Theo Reilly takes the temperature of the events landscape in the Great White North. With an established method of using sector expertise, and some of the world’s most striking landscapes, Canada has an interesting set of cards to play from in the major events game.
The sector method
Different destinations adopt different strategies to win in the events world. Some leverage their natural beauty, some opt for long-term legacy, others lean on their cutting-edge infrastructure. The Canadian method is driven by its specialist sectors. Toronto pursues finance events, Montréal goes after AI conferences, Vancouver hunts for sustainability meetings. Regional hubs have developed their own particular ecosystems, and Canada’s events industry takes advantage of them.
More than that, the country sits on some of the most stunning, wild landscapes in the northern hemisphere. With these USPs, the country has a clear call-to-action. But the industry is not without its challenges – challenges arising from distance and climate. What’s the current temperature of the Canadian events market? How are they making use of their extensive USPs to reel in international events?
Canada is a huge country – the second largest in the world. This immensity has helped create industry ‘clusters’ – energy in Alberta, tech in Toronto, government in Ottawa, agriculture on the prairies. The sheer distances between major centres (Toronto to Vancouver is 2,100 miles) mean industries have developed distinct ecosystems rather than becoming variations on a similar theme.
These ecosystems have informed national tourism organisation and CVB Destination Canada’s bidding strategy. It tells CMW it has identified six key industries to target – life sciences, natural resources, finance and insurance, advanced manufacturing, agribusiness and digital industries.
“Every destination in Canada offers something unique for business events,” CEO Virginie De Visscher says. “Destination Canada works to create sector specific communications to help fuel the pipeline of events.”
The broad specialisations of Canada’s Big Four cities are:
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Toronto – finance
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Montréal – AI
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Vancouver – tech
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Ottawa – government
This sector method even applies to second-tier cities. “Saskatoon is world-renowned for its infectious disease research,” De Visscher says, “while Winnipeg shines for precision agriculture – and is home to the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre.”
New builds?
Canada has been busy expanding its event infrastructure.
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In June 2024, Calgary reopened a majorly expanded BMO Centre, with a 100,000sqft outdoor plaza, two large ballrooms, 38 meeting rooms and over 100,000sqft of exhibition space added.
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In 2024, Marriott Downtown Toronto relaunched post-renovation with 26,000sqft of event space, two pillar-less ballrooms and a Topgolf Swing Suite.
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Montréal has a $150m, 200-room hotel opening in 2026 adjacent to the Casino de Montréal.
As well as mainstream venues, Canada is also expanding its portfolio of unorthodox meeting spaces. Fort Gibraltar in Winnipeg is a reconstructed 1800s fur trade fort with authentic timber buildings and costumed interpreters. Dakota Dunes Resort, meanwhile, sits on traditional Whitecap Dakota Territory in Saskatchewan, surrounded by natural sand dunes just 20 minutes from Saskatoon.
An outdoor retreat in British Columbia
Pitching the wilderness
Few developed countries can claim a wilderness as rugged and impressive as Canada’s. And unlike its equally geographically-blessed neighbour, the United States, many of Canada’s cities are nestled right inside its best landscapes.
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Vancouver has mountains and old-growth forests within the city limits – in the time it takes to commute in many cities, you can be on a ski slope or hiking trail.
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Calgary sits on the edge of the Canadian Rockies, about an hour’s drive from the alpine forests of Banff National Park.
This wealth of scenery is fertile ground for incentive travel. In 2023, a CMW reporter visited Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge on Vancouver Island, where the general manager proudly recounted taking delegates’ phones away and holding their meetings on mountaintops or beside glacial lakes – “anywhere but a boardroom.”
These retreats can be found across the country:
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Trout Point Lodge in Nova Scotia offers log cabins, glacial lakes, and fir trees.
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In the Yukon, Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre provides an Indigenous-owned conference and cultural venue that displays artefacts and histories of the Kwanlin Dun tribe, along with locally-crafted honeys and regalia.
Expertise in digital sciences
While Canada’s cities each have their own specialisations, there is one field that unites many of them – digital sciences. Destination Canada tells CMW that Canada’s digital ecosystem is well-connected and spans Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. In particular, the three cities combine to form “one AI powerhouse.”
The country now hosts 10% of the world’s elite AI researchers and leads G7 nations in AI talent growth at 38% annually. The federal government is investing heavily in AI, betting on Canada becoming a leading source of AI technology.
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In 2024, Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his neural network research at the University of Toronto.
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In Québec, Montréal is home to Yoshua Bengio’s Mila AI Institute, while Vancouver completes the triangle of Canada’s AI powerhouse cities.
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The federal government was the first globally to launch a national AI strategy in 2017 and has since attracted over $2bn in investment.
Major companies like Telus, Arctic Wolf and MindBridge also operate from Canadian bases.
Strong government support
Capital city Ottawa has put cash behind its event ambitions. The federal government has allocated $60m through the International Convention Attraction Programme to help cities bid for major conferences.
So far, the subvention fund has supported 69 events, generating $546m in direct economic impact and attracting 213,000 delegates.
Recent wins include:
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Toronto securing the 2025 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference
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Montréal landing the 2028 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering
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Vancouver hosting the 2027 World Road Congress
Facing challenges
Of course, like every destination, Canada faces its challenges. De Visscher says that international organisers sometimes come with their own “misconceptions.” They believe Canada is “too cold, too far, too homogenous, lesser-known, or even challenging to enter due to visas.”
The reality, she explains, is not so. The Great White North must contend with being deep in the north of the planet, but that location is also what consistently lands Canada among top spots in rankings of the world’s most beautiful countries.
Vancouver has been consistently voted among the 10 most liveable cities, and Canada even boasts wine-growing valleys alongside its wilderness. Add in a welcoming culture and the result is an events experience that few destinations could hope to replicate.
