Corporations Returns Act
2020

Introduction

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 foreign control of the Canadian corporate economy.

The Corporations Returns Act requires that an annual report be submitted to Parliament summarizing the extent to which foreign control is prevalent in Canada. This is the report for reference year 2020.

This report focuses on ownership of assets as a basis for measuring foreign control because assets provide a long-term perspective.  They are a stock item, reflecting economic decisions and market conditions that evolve more slowly over time.

These statistics are compiled from enterprise level data. An enterprise can be a single corporation or a family of corporations under common ownership and/or control, for which consolidated financial statements are produced.

The report covers all incorporated enterprises in Canada but excludes enterprises classified under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to Management of Companies and Enterprises (NAICS 55), Religious Organizations (NAICS 8131), Political Organizations (NAICS 81394), Public Administration (NAICS 91) and Funds and other Financial Vehicles (NAICS 526). Federal and provincial government business enterprises (GBEs) are excluded starting in 2020.

Since GBE’s are Canadian owned, their exclusion in 2020 does not impact the year-to-year analysis by country. However, the value of Canadian assets affects the percentage share of foreign ownership and is therefore not directly comparable to previous reference years. Relevant notes are included in the analysis to address this change in methodology.

The all industry analysis is based on 21 groups of industries which have been defined using NAICS.

Data was compiled by geographic macro-region using the Standard Classification of Countries and Areas of Interest (SCCAI 2016) structure.

Highlights

• The foreign-controlled share of Canadian assets was 15.1% in 2020.
• In 2020, only eight countries accounted for just under 90% of all foreign-controlled assets in Canada.
• The share of assets of foreign‑controlled enterprises in the non‑financial sector was 23.5% in 2020.
• In the finance and insurance industries in 2020, the foreign-controlled share of Canadian assets was 9.1%.

Analysis

All Industries

In 2020, corporations operating in Canada held $14.8 trillion in assets which are represented by both Canadian and foreign-controlled enterprises.    

Foreign-controlled total asset values were $2.2 trillion while Canadian-controlled assets were valued at $12.6 trillion, resulting in a foreign-controlled asset share of 15.1% in 2020.

Data may change from year to year for several reasons, including economic growth or decline, merger and acquisition activity, industry reclassifications, changes in methodology, and revisions to the data.

Over the previous decade, the share of assets owned by foreign-controlled enterprises has steadily declined.  After considering the removal of the GBE-owned assets, the foreign-controlled share continues the slight downward trend in 2020.

Returns collected under the Corporations Returns Act show that enterprises in Canada are controlled by entities from over 80 countries. However, only eight countries account for 87.6% of these foreign-owned assets. American-controlled enterprises held the highest share in 2020, accounting for 50.1% of all assets under foreign control.

Data table for Chart 1



Data table for Chart 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 1 Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Percent
United States of America	50.1
United Kingdom	11.7
Japan	7.6
Germany	4.4
France	4
China	3.7
Switzerland	3.7
Netherlands	2.4
Rest of the world	12.2
Source: Table 33-10-0570-01.

In order to provide an additional layer of information, the country data has been grouped into geographic macro regions. In 2020, more than half of all assets under foreign control belonged to enterprises from the Americas macro region, followed by Europe at 31.7% and Asia at 14.9%.  

Data table for Chart 2



Data table for Chart 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 2 Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Percent
Americas	51.9
Europe	31.7
Asia	14.9
Africa,Oceania, Antarctica and adjacent islands	1.5
Source: Table 33-10-0570-01.



Non-financial Industries

In 2020, enterprises in non-financial industries held $6.2 trillion in assets, representing 41.5% of total assets in Canada.

Assets held by Canadian-controlled enterprises were valued at $4.7 trillion, while those held by foreign-controlled enterprises were $1.5 trillion. As a result, the share of assets under foreign control was 23.5% in 2020 for the non-financial industries.

The countries whose enterprises controlled the most assets in Canada were the United States with 55.4%, the United Kingdom with 6.3% and China with 4.6% of foreign-controlled assets in the non-financial industries.

Data table for Chart 3



Data table for Chart 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data table for Chart 3 Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Percent
United States of America	55.4
United Kingdom	6.3
China	4.6
Japan	4.5
France	4.2
Germany	3.6
Switzerland	3.4
Netherlands	2.7
Rest of the world	15.4
Source: Table 33-10-0570-01.



Finance and Insurance Industries

In 2020, enterprises operating in the financial sector accounted for $8.7 trillion in assets, representing 58.5% of total assets in Canada.

Enterprises in these highly regulated industries are predominantly Canadian-controlled, resulting in foreign-controlled assets representing less than a tenth of the total. Assets held by Canadian-controlled enterprises were valued at $7.9 trillion, while those held by foreign-controlled enterprises had a value of $796 billion. As a result, the share of assets under foreign control was 9.1% in 2020 for the financial industries.

The countries whose enterprises controlled the most foreign financial assets were the United States with 40.6%, the United Kingdom with 21.7% and Japan with 13.2%.

Data table for Chart 4



Data Table for Chart 4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Data Table for Chart 4 Percent (appearing as column headers).

	Percent
United States of America	40.6
United Kingdom	21.7
Japan	13.2
Germany	5.9
Switzerland	4.4
France	3.7
Netherlands	1.9
China	2.2
Rest of the world	6.4
Source: Table 33-10-0570-01.



Analysis by industry

Data by industry is provided for the 2020 reference period in Table 2.  As mentioned in the Introduction, data for federal and provincial government business enterprises (GBEs) are excluded starting in 2020. The GBE data was distributed among various industries and its exclusion directly impacts the year-to-year comparability.  To alleviate this issue and allow for better historical comparisons, efforts are being made to back cast the data for a period of 10 years and will be available in this Report in future reference periods. 



Data quality, concepts and methodology

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In line with Statistics Canada’s modernization initiative, the full set of statistical tables can be viewed in an interactive format on our website.

Please consult Table 33-10-0570-01 and Table 33-10-0084-01 “Foreign-controlled enterprises in Canada, by financial characteristic and selected country of control” for more details.

For additional details on quality, concepts and methodology, please see the program information on our website here: Corporations Returns Act

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