Foreign-controlled enterprises in Canada, by financial characteristics and selected country of control, inactive
Historical Corporations Returns Act (CRA) data on foreign-controlled enterprise assets, operating revenues, and operating profits in Canada across 24 NAICS industries and 26 countries of control from 2007 to 2019.
About this dataset
- 24 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industries and summary sectors
- 6 financial characteristics: Assets, Percentage of total assets, Operating revenues, Percentage of total operating revenues, Operating profits, Percentage of total operating profit
- 26 countries and regional macroeconomic blocs of control
- Annual reference periods from 2007 to 2019
- Management of Companies and Enterprises (NAICS 55 holding companies excluded)
- Unincorporated sole proprietorships and partnerships
- Sub-annual (monthly/quarterly) frequencies
- Post-2019 reference years (archived and replaced by Table 33-10-0570-01 which excludes Government Business Enterprises)
- Employment headcounts or physical trade volumes (balance sheet and income statement metrics only)
Measurement notes
- Foreign control is assigned based on majority voting ownership (over 50%) or effective managerial control of the enterprise.
- Assets provide a long-term stock perspective of corporate ownership, whereas operating revenues and profits measure annual flow activity.
- Reference years feature a standard two-year administrative tax reconciliation lag.
- Table 33-10-0084-01 is archived; subsequent years are tracked in Table 33-10-0570-01.
| Column | Type | Non-null | Unique | Mean | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REF_DATE | int64 | 100.0% | 13 | 2,013.4 | 2,007.0 | 2,019.0 |
| GEO | object | 100.0% | 1 | — | Canada | Canada |
| DGUID | object | 100.0% | 1 | — | 2016A000011124 | 2016A000011124 |
| North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) | object | 100.0% | 24 | — | Accommodation and food services [72] | Wholesale trade [41] |
| Financial characteristics | object | 100.0% | 6 | — | Assets | Percentage of total operating revenues |
| Country of control | object | 100.0% | 26 | — | Australia | United States of America |
| UOM | object | 100.0% | 2 | — | Dollars | Percent |
| UOM_ID | int64 | 100.0% | 2 | 160.0 | 81.0 | 239.0 |
| SCALAR_FACTOR | object | 100.0% | 2 | — | millions | units |
| SCALAR_ID | int64 | 100.0% | 2 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 6.0 |
| VECTOR | object | 100.0% | 3744 | — | v1000042067 | v1064175843 |
| COORDINATE | object | 100.0% | 3744 | — | 1.1.1.1 | 1.9.6.9 |
| VALUE | float64 | 62.9% | 8270 | 46,186.5 | -14,223.0 | 15,062,929.0 |
| STATUS | object | 37.1% | 2 | — | F | x |
| SYMBOL | float64 | 0.0% | 0 | — | — | — |
| TERMINATED | float64 | 0.0% | 0 | — | — | — |
| DECIMALS | int64 | 100.0% | 2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| NAICS Industry | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services [72] | |||||||||||||
| Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services [56] | |||||||||||||
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting [11] | |||||||||||||
| Arts, entertainment and recreation [71] | |||||||||||||
| Construction [23] | |||||||||||||
| Depository credit intermediation | |||||||||||||
| Educational, health care and social assistance services [61-62] | |||||||||||||
| Information and cultural industries [51] | |||||||||||||
| Insurance carriers and related activities [524] | |||||||||||||
| Manufacturing [31-33] | |||||||||||||
| Mining and quarrying (except oil and gas) [212] | |||||||||||||
| Non-depository credit intermediation [5222] | |||||||||||||
| Oil and gas extraction and support activities [211, 213] | |||||||||||||
| Other financial industries | |||||||||||||
| Professional, scientific and technical services [54] | |||||||||||||
| Real estate and rental and leasing [53] | |||||||||||||
| Repair, maintenance and personal services [811-813 excluding 8131 and 81394] | |||||||||||||
| Retail trade [44-45] | |||||||||||||
| Total finance and insurance industries | |||||||||||||
| Total non-financial industries (excluding management of companies and enterprises) | |||||||||||||
| Total, all industries (excluding management of companies and enterprises) | |||||||||||||
| Transportation and warehousing [48-49] | |||||||||||||
| Utilities [22] | |||||||||||||
| Wholesale trade [41] |
Observations
- 2008 Global Financial Crisis peak foreign revenue share (30.1%) — NOTES.md: 2008 Financial crisis peak
- 2014–2015 Commodity collapse drops foreign profit share to 16.9% — NOTES.md: Commodity price collapse
- 12th consecutive year of declining foreign asset share (14.8%) — NOTES.md: 12th year of asset share decline
- CNOOC-Nexen energy acquisition expands China asset footprint — NOTES.md: CNOOC-Nexen acquisition
- US-controlled assets reach record $1.16 trillion CAD — NOTES.md: US assets reach record level
Long-Term Decline in Foreign Asset Share: The Domestic Asset Surge
Between 2007 and 2019, the share of Canadian corporate assets controlled by foreign enterprises dropped steadily from 21.6% to 14.8%. This 12-year structural decline was not caused by foreign divestment—in fact, foreign-controlled assets grew from $1.38 trillion to $2.24 trillion CAD (+61.4%). Instead, Canadian-controlled corporate assets expanded far more aggressively (from $5.03 trillion to $12.83 trillion CAD, +155.0%), led by domestic chartered banks, insurance institutions, and real estate investment.
Tradable Goods Vulnerability: Manufacturing and Wholesale Penetration
While foreign control represents only 14.8% of aggregate corporate assets, foreign ownership is heavily concentrated in tradable and industrial goods. Foreign-controlled corporations accounted for 53.1% of Canadian manufacturing operating revenues ($443.9B CAD) and 46.1% of wholesale revenues ($361.8B CAD) in 2019. In contrast, domestic enterprises dominate non-tradable utilities (92.2%), construction (93.0%), and deposit-taking finance (95.4%). Trade diversification policies must recognize that over half of Canada's industrial manufacturing base is directed by foreign-headquartered enterprises.
CRA Survey Methodology, Holding Company Exclusions, and Archive Transition
Administered under the Corporations Returns Act (Survey 2503), this table compiles corporate income tax filings (T2) at the consolidated enterprise level. Crucially, NAICS 55 (Management of Companies and Enterprises) is excluded from all totals to eliminate double counting of holding company affiliate assets. Reference year 2019 represents the final vintage of Table 33-10-0084-01; it was archived and succeeded by Table 33-10-0570-01, which instituted a major methodological revision by excluding Government Business Enterprises (GBEs) starting in 2020.
Notes
Foreign control of Canadian corporate assets declined for 12 straight years to 14.8% in 2019, yet foreign firms still control 53.1% of manufacturing revenue ($443.9B CAD) and the US holds 51.9% ($1.16T CAD) of all foreign assets.
Validation Checks
External: 14.8% (down from 15.3% in 2018) (Statistics Canada The Daily (2022-01-31): 'Foreign control in the Canadian economy, 2019')
Exact match: table reports 14.8% foreign asset share in 2019 and 15.3% in 2018 for All industries.
External: 51.9% ($1,160.8 billion) (Statistics Canada The Daily (2022-01-31): 'Foreign control in the Canadian economy, 2019')
Exact match: table reports $1,160,842M CAD for United States out of $2,235,836M total foreign assets (51.92%).
External: Americas: 53.7%, Europe: 31.4%, Asia: 13.3% (Statistics Canada The Daily (2022-01-31): 'Foreign control in the Canadian economy, 2019')
Exact match: table reports Total Americas assets of $1,200,649M (53.70%), Total Europe $701,847M (31.39%), Total Asia $296,841M (13.28%).
External: 27.0% of corporate revenues ($1,253.3 billion) (Statistics Canada The Daily (2022-01-31): 'Foreign control in the Canadian economy, 2019')
Exact match: table reports $1,253,264M CAD foreign revenue out of $4,648,706M total (26.96%).
External: 53.1% ($443,945 million) (Statistics Canada Corporations Returns Act Annual Report (Table 33-10-0084-01 / The Daily 2022-01-31))
Exact match: table reports 53.1% foreign revenue share and $443,945M CAD foreign operating revenues in Manufacturing [31-33].