Second place, fourth year running: Canada’s FDI streak continues
Canada has strengthened its position as a leading destination for foreign direct investment, retaining second place in Kearney’s 2026 FDI Confidence Index for a fourth consecutive year.
The country is seeing "significant gains in investor sentiment overall," Erik Peterson, a partner and managing director at Kearney, a management consultant firm, wrote in the report, World recalibrating. Canada’s score rose to 2.1373, from 2.0932 a year earlier, narrowing the gap with the first place U.S.. Investors identified Canada’s natural resources and technological innovation as major attractions, with each cited by 28% of respondents.
The report links investor interest in Canada’s technology sector to growing global demand for artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure, noting the federal government’s 2025 budget proposed $925.6 million over several years for “sovereign public AI infrastructure,” which Kearney says may have contributed to perceptions of Canada’s technological potential.
Canada also ranked among the markets generating the greatest investor optimism about the three-year economic outlook. Its net optimism score of 39% placed it behind only the United Arab Emirates and Japan.
The report also highlights the Building Canada Act and provincial initiatives as measures intended to streamline approvals and support hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment, particularly benefiting the construction sector.
Kearney says amid a broader shift in global investment, technological and innovation capabilities have become the most important factor influencing foreign-investment decisions, while geopolitical tensions and competing industrial policies are increasing uncertainty. Globally, 88% of investors surveyed said they plan to increase foreign investment over the next three years.
"The market is likely benefitting from a shifting global order in which economies from Canada to Kenya are increasingly seeking trade alliances beyond the United States," the report says. "How businesses and investors recalibrate as they face undercurrents of geopolitical instability, social pressure and economic volatility will determine FDI outcomes."
