{"id":509181,"date":"2026-03-02T09:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509181\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T09:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:34:11","slug":"middle-east-attacks-hurting-investment-thesis-for-canadians-wealthy-foreigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509181\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East attacks hurting investment thesis for Canadians, wealthy foreigners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A plume of smoke rising from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian strike in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.RYAN LIM\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Missile attacks across the Middle East are throwing the safe haven status of Persian Gulf countries into question, upending the investment thesis that lured wealthy foreigners and a growing number of Canadian companies to the region.<\/p>\n

Cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Doha in Qatar have blossomed into global commerce hubs over the past two decades, backed by oil<\/a>-rich governments that have funded modern infrastructure and gleaming skyscrapers.<\/p>\n

As they blossomed, they also offered something many countries in the Middle East could not: political calm. The likes of Qatar, Oman and the UAE have developed reputations for being politically-neutral, much like Switzerland, and that has made them less likely to be roped into regional wars.<\/p>\n

Combined with ultra-low tax rates, this neutrality has lured wealthy foreigners, and it has also turned the Gulf into a hotbed for investment dollars. Canada\u2019s Brookfield Asset Management BAM-T<\/a> has long raised money in the region; Canadian lenders such as Royal Bank of Canada RY-T<\/a> and National Bank of Canada NA-T<\/a> are looking to expand in the Gulf; and Canadian insurers Manulife Financial Corp. MFC-T<\/a> and Sun Life Financial Inc. SLF-T<\/a> both recently opened offices in Dubai to court high net worth investors for their international arms.<\/p>\n

A list of Iranian attacks on countries in the region<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet the safety that gave them comfort was thrown into question this past weekend after Iran retaliated for missile attacks that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader. Over two days, debris from 390 missiles and 830 drones hit airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the luxury Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, a high-rise building in Bahrain and Fairmont\u2019s The Palm, in Dubai, where four individuals in the parking area were injured. All of these events seemed extremely unlikely only a few days ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe image of Gulf cities as stable havens and safe places to live, work, and do business is now under attack,\u201d Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, wrote in an email to The Globe. The attacks, he added are a \u201crude awakening for many of the expatriate residents, tourists, and other visitors, and may inflict psychological damage that is hard to measure, but may be difficult to unsee, especially if the disruption lasts longer than just a few days.\u201d <\/p>\n

Prolonged instability in the Gulf could also have an impact on global capital flows, according to Karen Young, a senior research scholar at Columbia University\u2019s Center on Global Energy Policy and an expert in Gulf countries\u2019 economic statecraft, said in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more, Gulf investment vehicles, either fully-or-partially-state owned, are now preferred partners in infrastructure investment and private equity funds globally and now serve as a dominant source of capital in the energy sector and in technology and AI,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Even with the UAE under attack, most expats feel safe, say they\u2019re not leaving<\/a><\/p>\n

The region is now home to multiple sovereign wealth funds, each managing hundreds of billions of dollars, and this money has been readily flowing into the West as Gulf governments try to diversify away from oil. In late 2024, for instance, Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Capital bought Canadian asset manager CI Financial for $4.7-billion.<\/p>\n

The importance of this capital is not lost on Mark Carney, who travelled to Doha in January for the first-ever visit by a sitting prime minister. While there, the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, committed to making \u201csignificant strategic investments in Canadian nation-building projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third leg of the Gulf\u2019s financial appeal has been its status as a hotbed for infrastructure projects, many of which have attracted Canadian capital and expertise.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec, the province\u2019s pension fund, announced one of the largest Canadian investments in the region, partnering with DP World to co-invest US$5 billion in three UAE assets. They included the Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, one of the world\u2019s largest, and building the National Industries Park in Dubai, a 21 square km area designated for manufacturing and processing companies.<\/p>\n

Oil prices surge in response to Middle East conflict<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the weekend, DP World suspended port operations at Jebel Ali, and Dubai\u2019s media office said a fire was caused by debris from the aerial interception of an Iranian missile or drone. In an emailed statement, the Caisse said it does not have an office or employees in the Gulf region and that it is monitoring the situation closely. <\/p>\n

Canadian engineering firms WSP Global Inc. WSP-T<\/a> and Atkinsrealis Group Inc. ATRL-T<\/a> have also profited off the infrastructure boom. Based in Montreal, WSP just helped build the Zayed National Museum, the National Museum of the UAE in Abu Dhabi, and it was also contracted to upgrade major highways in Kuwait, as well as help build the Kuwait Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

It is possible the Gulf\u2019s bout of instability will subside quickly. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was willing to talk to Iran\u2019s new leadership, and any talks could result in a lasting ceasefire. If that plays out, the infrastructure money is likely to keep flowing and foreigners are likely to keep flocking to the region. In 2025, Dubai attracted the most millionaires globally, according to Henley & Partners, a consultancy that specializes in residence and citizenship planning. <\/p>\n

But it is also possible that Iran will become destabilized amid a leadership vacuum, and the resulting chaos could spread throughout the region. <\/p>\n

It may seem far-fetched at this moment in time, but the weekend\u2019s chaos showed that what was considered unthinkable only a few weeks ago was in fact possible, and the region\u2019s promise of stability is fragile.<\/p>\n

With files from Andrew Willis and James Bradshaw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A plume of smoke rising from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-509181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-headlines","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-news","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-top-news","53":"tag-top-stories","54":"tag-topnews","55":"tag-topstories","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}