Foreign control in the Canadian economy, 2023
Released: 2025-10-02
The share of assets owned by foreign-controlled enterprises has steadily declined since 2007. This trend continued in 2023, with the foreign-controlled share of assets decreasing by 0.3 percentage points from the previous year. The decline was mostly due to Canadian-controlled enterprise assets growing at a faster pace than those of foreign-controlled enterprises.
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing an annual report, titled "Corporations Returns Act, 2023," which provides information on the level of foreign control in the Canadian economy for 2023.
Consult the "Foreign control in the Canadian economy: Visualization tool" for a comprehensive overview of the annual changes in the foreign control of the Canadian corporate economy.
The share of assets owned by foreign-controlled enterprises in Canada decreases
Combined, foreign- and Canadian-controlled enterprises operating in Canada held $17.9 trillion in assets in 2023.
Canadian-controlled assets were valued at $15.3 trillion in 2023, representing 85.6% of total corporate assets in the Canadian economy. Foreign-controlled assets were valued at $2.6 trillion, accounting for the remaining 14.4% of assets.
Canadian-controlled enterprises (+5.6%) recorded a higher year-over-year increase in asset growth from 2022 to 2023 compared with foreign-controlled enterprises (+2.9%).
The United States owns the largest share of foreign-controlled assets in Canada
Data from the Corporations Returns Act program show that enterprises in Canada were controlled by entities from 93 countries in 2023. However, eight countries accounted for 87.4% of these foreign-owned assets.
United States-controlled enterprises (53.0%) maintained the largest overall share of foreign-controlled assets in Canada in 2023, followed by enterprises from the United Kingdom (11.1%) and Japan (8.0%).
By macro-region, the majority share of assets under foreign control in 2023 belonged to enterprises from the Americas (54.6%), followed by enterprises from Europe (27.7%) and Asia (16.0%).
Enterprises from the Americas experienced a slowdown in asset growth, up 3.9% in 2023 compared with a 5.3% increase in 2022.
European-controlled enterprises in Canada recorded a 3.3% decline in asset growth in 2023, the sharpest drop since 2015.
Though they account for a smaller overall share, Asian-controlled enterprises recorded their strongest annual asset growth since 2016, increasing 11.2% in 2023.
The non-financial industries that presented the largest shares of foreign control in 2023, as measured by assets, were wholesale trade (48.6%), manufacturing (44.4%), oil and gas extraction (33.0%) and mining and quarrying (31.9%).
Among all financial industries, non-depository credit intermediation continued to have the highest level of foreign control in 2023, at 44.0%.
Chart 1
Share of assets under foreign control, all industries, 2014 to 2023
Infographic 1
Assets under foreign control by country, all industries, 2023
Infographic 2
Assets under foreign control, by macro-region, all industries, 2023
Focus on Canada and the United States
The United States held an important position within the Canadian economy, having the largest share of foreign-controlled assets in Canada in 2023. From 2014 to 2023, US-controlled enterprises consistently accounted for just over half of all foreign-controlled assets in Canada, with varying levels of control across industries.
The largest asset values of US-controlled enterprises were concentrated in the goods supply chain and financial intermediation industries in 2023. Among these industries, manufacturing's asset value remained the largest, with US-controlled assets rising from $237.4 billion in 2014 to $333.8 billion in 2023. Wholesale trade followed, of which the US-controlled assets value nearly doubled from 2014 to $195.7 billion in 2023, representing 59% of the total foreign-controlled assets in this industry. Within finance and insurance, the industries with the largest asset holdings by US-controlled enterprises were depository credit intermediation, which rose from $55.7 billion in 2014 to $99.5 billion in 2023, and other financial industries (e.g., securities and investment industries), which increased from $73.5 billion to $139.4 billion over the same period.
During the period from 2014 to 2023, US-controlled enterprises held, on average, the largest share of foreign-controlled assets within the services industries. In the arts, entertainment and recreation industry, their share of foreign-controlled assets of US-controlled enterprises remained near 90% for most of the period and settled at 89.2% in 2023. Retail trade recorded a similar level, ranging from 91.6% in 2014 to 84.3% in 2023, with an average of 87.9%. Information and cultural industries climbed from 69.7% in 2014 to 83.9% in 2023 and averaged 74.8%.
Fluctuations in the share of foreign-controlled assets held by US-controlled enterprises were observed in the construction and oil and gas extraction industries. In construction, the share declined from 55.0% in 2014 to 36.1% in 2023, after holding near 50% through much of 2015 to 2020. In oil and gas extraction, the share of foreign-controlled assets held by US-controlled enterprises declined from 49.5% in 2014 to 34.5% in 2017, then rebounded to 51.5% in 2021 and edged down to 46.9% by 2023, following an acquisition.
Conversely, the transportation and warehousing industry presented a trend of steady transformation. This industry shifted from near parity between other foreign-controlled and US-controlled (49.2%) enterprises' assets in 2014 to a clear United States (72.1%) predominance in 2017. By 2023, assets had grown from $11.6 billion to $39.6 billion, with US-controlled enterprises holding more than 70% of foreign-controlled assets in the industry after 2017. From 2017 to 2023, Canadian purchasing patterns moved sharply towards digital channels: according to the Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Canadian e-commerce sales more than tripled from $1.24 billion in January 2017 to $3.73 billion in December 2023. This represented a 201% growth, while total retail sales increased by 32% over the same period. The COVID-19 pandemic amplified this divergence, acting as a catalyst for online shopping. Considered together, these trajectories indicate a reallocation towards logistics intensive activity with integrated North American supply chains, with scale advantages accruing to US-controlled enterprises after 2017.
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socio-economic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage
Infographic 3
US-controlled asset values in manufacturing, wholesale and finance, 2014 and 2023
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Note to readers
Under the authority of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Statistics Canada administers the Corporations Returns Act, which requires the collection of financial and ownership information on corporations conducting business in Canada. This information is used to evaluate the extent of non-resident control of the Canadian corporate economy.
The Corporations Returns Act requires that an annual report be submitted to Parliament summarizing the extent of foreign control in Canada.
The financial information on foreign control in the Canadian economy is derived from administrative data received from the Canada Revenue Agency. This information is based on financial statements filed with corporate annual income tax returns. Therefore, the reference period has a lag of two years.
These statistics are compiled from enterprise-level data. An enterprise can be a single corporation or a family of corporations under common ownership or control, for which consolidated financial statements are produced.
This report focuses mainly on ownership of assets as a basis for measuring foreign control because assets provide a longer-term perspective. They are a stock item, reflecting economic decisions and market conditions that evolve more slowly over time. Statistics Canada also tracks revenues and profits under foreign control for the same periods.
Products
The report "Corporations Returns Act, 2023" (61-220-X), is now available.
The 2024 issue of "Inter-corporate Ownership" (61-517-X) is now available.
The data visualization product "Foreign control in the Canadian economy: Visualization tool" (71-607-X) is now available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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