How the Canada Growth Fund is using public capital to unlock private ambition

For Canada’s innovators, investors and those looking at what our country has to offer, the Canada Growth Fund is ready. Photo by Tony Ianiro/Getty Images/Postmedia files

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For too long, Canada has struggled to turn ambition into action. We talk about building world-class infrastructure, unlocking our natural resources responsibly and accelerating next-generation industrial growth; yet too often, the big projects that could secure our future stall before they start. I’ve worked on major transactions around the world, in markets that move quickly and decisively. Canada has every advantage: talent, resources, capital and global credibility. What we’ve lacked is the ability to make large-scale projects investable at the speed required. That is now changing.

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By entrusting the exclusive management of the CGF Fund to PSP Investments, the federal government has enabled CGF to draw on PSP’s deep expertise, enabling rapid market entry and disciplined capital deployment. The relationship is mutually beneficial: managing CGF gives PSP early visibility into emerging technologies, supply chains and sector trends that normally fall outside a pension fund’s traditional risk‑return profile, strengthening PSP’s foresight without requiring direct exposure to early‑stage risk. This agreement ultimately delivers a triple win — for CGF, for PSP and for the Canadian economy — while positioning us to lead future investments that will define Canada’s economic trajectory for decades.

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Operating at arm’s length from the government, we have the flexibility to act as a catalyst for private capital, structured to unlock investment that would otherwise remain on the sidelines. When we step into a deal, it is with one goal: to de-risk opportunities so that investors can confidently deploy billions into our economy.

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Our tools allow us to bridge the gap between early-stage vision and financial close, and we want to be first-movers that spur Canadian innovation. Our investment objective goes beyond delivering positive risk-return results, we want real impact for Canadians: create quality jobs, protect our intellectual properties, lower emissions and capitalize on our natural resources. Leveraging our fiscal-neutral mandate, we aim to recover and recycle our capital over time while converting high-risk assets into investable opportunities for private funds.

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Our recent major investment in small modular reactors, a new class of nuclear reactors, demonstrates what is possible when Canada aligns industrial ambition with smart public risk-taking. Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) represents the kind of large-scale initiative that will define our economic trajectory for the next generation: projects that cut emissions, build competitiveness and strengthen the foundations of prosperity.

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And DNNP is just the beginning. Across Canada, we are advancing a pipeline of opportunities — critical minerals, industrial decarbonization and next generation technologies. Each one requires new models of partnership, new financial structures and the courage to move at the pace global competition demands. We have already completed 18 transactions and committed nearly $5 billion in less than three years and we are committed to doing more.