Foreign Control in Canada’s Economy Is on the Decline: StatCan

A seaplane prepares to land on the harbour as gantry cranes used to load and unload cargo containers are seen at port, in Vancouver on April 25, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Foreign control in Canada’s economy has been steadily declining over the last 10 years, according to numbers released by Statistics Canada.

In 2021, combined foreign and Canadian-controlled enterprises in the country were worth $15.9 trillion in assets, Statistics Canada said in a report released on Oct. 23. Of that, $13.6 trillion were Canadian-controlled (85.1 percent) and $2.4 trillion were foreign-controlled (14.9 percent). That represented a drop in foreign-controlled assets of nearly 5 percent, down from 19.8 percent in 2013.

The report also said that Canada-controlled corporations saw a higher year-over-year increase in asset growth between 2020 and 2021, amounting to 7.4 percent in growth while foreign-controlled corporations saw 6.1 percent growth.

Assets under foreign control by country, all industries, 2021. (Statistics Canada)

There are 90 countries in total that control enterprises in Canada, and eight of those accounted for 87.3 percent of the assets, led by the United States.

“Enterprises controlled from the United States maintained the largest overall share of foreign-controlled assets in Canada (52.3 percent), followed by the United Kingdom (11.0 percent) and Japan (7.0 percent),” the report said.

Other countries included Germany at 4.1 percent, France at 3.9 percent, China at 3.5 percent, Switzerland at 3.1 percent, and the Netherlands at 2.4 percent.

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Non-financial industries with the largest share of foreign-owned assets include wholesale trade, which is the purchasing and selling of goods, at 48.2 percent, manufacturing at 44.3 percent, oil and gas extraction at 40.1 percent, and mining/quarrying at 30.1 percent.

Companies that focus on loaning money or offering credit to customers continue to have the highest level of foreign control among the financial industries, according to Statistics Canada, amounting to 48.9 percent.