PMO hires American firm to run Canada Investment Summit
Move raises questions about government procurement optics, particularly when Canadian firms are struggling for work
Author of the article:Bryan Passifiume
Published Sep 15, 2026 • 3 minute read
Prime Minister Mark Carney conducts a press conference at the Canada Investment Summit at The Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Tuesday September 15, 2026.
Prime Minister Mark Carney conducts a press conference at the Canada Investment Summit at The Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Tuesday September 15, 2026. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /Postmedia Network
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trillion-dollar push to catalyze global investment in Canada got off to an awkward start.
The inaugural Canada Investment Summit, which kicked off this week in downtown Toronto, brought about 300 global C-suite executives and pension fund titans to mobilize long-term capital for multibillion-dollar infrastructure and energy projects.
But the event itself isn’t being produced by a Canadian event production house, but by E2K Events x Entertainment — a California-based firm with a history of staging numerous high-profile and glitzy events.
The move raises questions about government procurement optics, particularly at a time when Canadian live event and technology firms — fully equipped to handle high-security and elite summits — are struggling for work.
The official website for the summit, while hosted by a Canadian event management company, runs on E2K’s site architecture and backend routing systems.
Statements at the bottom of a now-orphaned Canada Investment Summit registration page hosted on an E2K server explicitly say that the page was “published by Olmstead Productions, Inc., dba e2k events × entertainment, for the Canada Investment Summit”
E2K also appears to be managing delegate credentials, sign-in systems and accommodation logistics.
Few willing to comment
Past events facilitated by E2K include the Global Climate Action Summit, Jon Stewart’s 2010 “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear,” former U.S. president Barack Obama’s inauguration, as well as numerous events for the NFL — including gameday events, halftime shows and even stages at past Super Bowls.
It isn’t known how much the federal government paid E2K to facilitate the summit or if it was awarded via a sole-source contract or exempt procurement pathway. No public requests for proposal, tenders or open competition records relating to the summit were found on CanadaBuys, the federal government’s official procurement portal.
All open tenders above $25,000 are typically listed publicly on CanadaBuys.
Major Canadian technical powerhouses and event agencies, many with active federal government security clearances, regularly produce world-class international gatherings, civic broadcasts and corporate keynotes.
Canadian event companies and industry associations contacted by the Toronto Sun all declined to comment.
Inquiries to the Prime Minister’s Office were redirected to the Privy Council Office, which had yet to respond by Tuesday afternoon.
Decision blasted as tone deaf
Franco Terrazzano, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, asked when the PM planned to make good on his promise to save Canadians money.
“The government added 86,000 bureaucrats in 10 years and it’s still getting an American company to help with a conference? None of those extra bureaucrats could have helped with hosting a conference?” he said.
“Taxpayers are paying way too much for all the in-house government bureaucrats and we’re also paying way more for consultants and outsourcing.”
Analyst Stephen Taylor, creator of Flashbulb Media Intelligence, called the government’s decision to outsource the event to the American firm as tone deaf and hypocritical.
“Just 11 days before the summit, Carney said, ‘We are becoming our own best customer — contracting Canadian companies, hiring Canadian workers,’ and said, ‘For too long, Canada has relied on other countries to build what we have the talent, expertise and capacity to build ourselves,'” he said.
“To hire a U.S. company to produce an event whose call-to-action is, ‘Choose Canada. Invest in Canada,’ it’s a bit too rich. Mark Carney’s ethics disclosure says he is over 90% invested in U.S. equities. Mark Carney is showing that he won’t invest in Canada. He is clearly not Canada’s best spokesperson for its turnaround.”
Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman told the Sun that Carney can’t shout “elbows up” with one hand, while signing cheques to American-based vendors with the other.
“Canada’s events and production industry isn’t some mom-and-pop operation, it’s hundreds of thousands of jobs and firms that already have the contracts to prove it,” she said.
“If Ottawa can’t find a Canadian company to run its own investment summit, that’s a tough one to explain to the hundreds of thousands of Canadians whose small businesses are already bracing for tariff pain.”
bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume
flashbulb.co
The new home for doing business with the Government of Canada. Learn more about how we are moving towards online procurement.
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e2k.com
Creating innovative events, powerful experiences, and magical moments that entertain people, inspire a sense of community, and celebrate...
e2k.com
Prime Minister Mark Carney is under fire for bypassing Canadian firms and hiring a Silicon Valley company to facilitate the event. Read on.
torontosun.com