Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

On 17 February 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Canada's first standalone Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), introducing the "Build–Partner–Buy" framework as the central guiding principle of Canadian defence procurement. The strategy mobilises over half a trillion CAD across the next decade — including ~CAD 180 bn in defence procurement opportunities, ~CAD 290 bn in defence-related capital investment, and ~CAD 125 bn in anticipated downstream economic benefit by 2035 — and targets 125,000 new high-paying jobs. Operationally, the DIS introduces Canadian Content Value (CCV) requirements with a proposed Canadian Company Boost for firms meeting 70–100% domestic-content thresholds, sets a 10-year goal of awarding 70% of defence procurements to Canadian firms, and signals willingness to invoke the national security exception to set aside trade-agreement obligations and exclude foreign bidders for "sovereign capability" contracts. It is the first standalone industrial-strategy document covering the Canadian defence-industrial base, distinct from prior DPA-narrow filings.

On 15 January 2026, Canada's Minister of Housing and Infrastructure announced the federal government's CAD 950.9 million contribution — matched by a CAD 950 million Ontario investment, for a combined CAD 1.9 billion — toward the Toronto Transit Commission's contract with Alstom Americas for 55 new subway trains (New Subway Train / Line 2 fleet). The procurement is publicized as the first implementation instance of the Buy Canadian Procurement Policy Framework (in force since 16 December 2025): TTC states 55% of train content will be Canadian-sourced, with final assembly at Alstom's Thunder Bay, Ontario plant and testing in Kingston, Ontario, creating roughly 900+ direct and 1,700+ indirect jobs. Global Trade Alert logs the intervention as a public-procurement localisation measure affecting India and the United States as the countries where Alstom's competing manufacturing bases (and rival bidders) would otherwise have supplied the contract.

On 16 December 2025, Public Services and Procurement Canada implemented the Buy Canadian Procurement Policy Framework, bringing into force (a) the Policy on Prioritizing Canadian Materials in Federal Procurement, which mandates use of Canadian steel, wood products and aluminum in federal defence and construction contracts valued at CAD 25 million or more that contain at least CAD 250,000 of those materials where Canadian supply exists, and (b) the Policy on Prioritizing Canadian Suppliers and Canadian Content in Strategic Federal Procurements, which applies a bid-price discount margin favouring Canadian suppliers in procurements tied to Canada's economic, industrial and innovation priorities. Complementary amendments to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Procurement Inquiry Regulations, effective 15 December 2025, remove CITT jurisdiction to review procurement measures that restrict participation to, or favour, Canadian suppliers, goods, services, materials or subcontractors. The framework applies immediately to procurements of CAD 25 million and above and is scheduled to expand to contracts of CAD 5 million and above by spring 2026. Budget 2025 allocates roughly CAD 186 million over five years to implement the framework, including CAD 79.9 million for a new Small and Medium Business Procurement Program.

On 26 November 2025 Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a package of measures to protect Canada's steel and softwood lumber industries, effective 26 December 2025. For steel, Canada tightened the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) available to countries without a Canada free trade agreement from 50% to 20% of 2024 import levels, and cut the TRQ for FTA partners outside CUSMA (i.e. not the US/Mexico) from 100% to 75% of 2024 levels; imports above quota face a 50% surtax. A new 25% tariff on the full value of listed steel-derivative products (doors, windows, fasteners, structural components and related goods) applies to all countries, covering an estimated CAD 10 billion+ of derivative imports. For softwood lumber, Canada added CAD 500 million to the BDC Softwood Lumber Guarantee Program (bringing it to CAD 1.2 billion) and earmarked a further CAD 500 million under the Large Enterprise Tariff Loan facility for lumber-sector liquidity support.

Canada's Budget 2025 (released 4 November 2025) expands the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC) to cover 12 additional minerals: bismuth, cesium, chromium, fluorspar, germanium, indium, manganese, molybdenum, niobium, tantalum, tin, and tungsten. The 30% flow-through share enhanced rate (double the standard 15% Mineral Exploration Tax Credit) is maintained and applies to agreements entered after November 4, 2025 and before March 31, 2027. This is the first scope expansion since CMETC's creation in 2022, bringing the total eligible mineral count to approximately 27 and aligning the credit with Canada's 2024 Critical Minerals List update.

Canada's Budget 2025 (released 4 November 2025) creates the First and Last Mile Fund (FLMF), allocating $371.8 million over four years starting in 2026-27 to Natural Resources Canada to address transport and utility bottlenecks connecting near-term critical-minerals production sites to deep-water ports and downstream processing facilities. The fund absorbs the existing Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund and leverages its envelope to provide up to $1.5 billion in total support through 2029-30. The FLMF is structurally distinct from the CMSF (equity/debt vehicle), the CMETC (exploration tax credit), and the Clean Tech ITC (manufacturing tax credit) — it is the infrastructure-grant instrument completing Canada's critical-minerals programme architecture.

Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), an arm's-length investment vehicle wholly owned by the Government of Canada, announced on 31 October 2025 an approximately CAD 25 million (USD ~17.8M) investment in Rio Tinto's scandium oxide operation at its Critical Minerals and Metallurgical Centre in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. The investment, structured as an equity-like financial royalty, will help expand the facility's nameplate capacity to 9 tonnes of scandium oxide per year. Alongside the investment, the Government of Canada agreed to an offtake agreement committing to purchase a volume of the scandium produced, and a marketing and storage agreement under which Rio Tinto will market and store scandium on Canada's behalf.

Natural Resources Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, announced on 31 October 2025 conditional approval of up to CAD 14,062,500 (USD ~10.0M) in non-repayable federal funding for Focus Graphite Inc. under NRCan's Global Partnerships Initiative, part of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan's first tranche of 26 investments and partnerships. Focus Graphite executed the funding agreement on 8 December 2025. The grant covers approximately 73.6% of eligible project costs for a commercial-scale electrothermal fluidized-bed purification demonstration plant converting Quebec natural flake graphite (from the Lac Knife and Lac Tétépisca deposits) into ultra-high-purity battery-anode and advanced materials, with Focus Graphite contributing the remaining CAD 4.79M cash plus CAD 250K in-kind. Eligible expenditures run 14 October 2025 to 31 March 2028.

Natural Resources Canada's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, announced on 31 October 2025 conditional approval of up to CAD 36.3 million (USD ~25.8M) in Government of Canada funding for Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s "Pathway to Samarium and Gadolinium Security" project, part of the first tranche of 26 investments and partnerships under the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan. The package comprises up to CAD 26.3 million in non-repayable contributions from NRCan's Global Partnerships Initiative (GPI) and up to CAD 10 million from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). Funding will scale up a commercial-scale RapidSX(TM) separation facility in Kingston, Ontario, intended to be the first dedicated samarium and gadolinium oxide production plant in North America, supporting samarium-cobalt magnet production for defence and other applications. Funding remains subject to due diligence and a Contribution Agreement.

On 23 October 2025 Canada's Department of Finance and ISED jointly reduced the annual counter-tariff remission quotas granted to General Motors and Stellantis under the auto remission framework introduced 15 April 2025, which lets automakers import a set volume of US-built vehicles free of Canada's counter-tariffs provided they maintain agreed production and investment levels in Canada. GM's quota was cut 24.2% after it ended BrightDrop van production in Ingersoll, Ontario and scaled back Oshawa output; Stellantis' quota was cut 50% after it cancelled its planned Jeep Compass line at the Brampton assembly plant. Volumes imported above the reduced quota are subject to Canada's counter-tariffs on US-origin vehicles.

On 14 July 2025, Public Services and Procurement Canada implemented the Interim Policy on Reciprocal Procurement, covering all new non-defence federal procurements valued at CAD 10,000 or above. Suppliers from countries that have no government- procurement trade obligations with Canada lose access to the federal procurement market; suppliers from countries with a relevant trade agreement retain access only to the extent their agreement provides. Procurements where at least 51% of estimated value is Defence Goods or Defence Services are excluded. Existing Supply Arrangements are grandfathered until their next renewal, with a hard deadline of 14 July 2026 for all such arrangements to comply. The policy was announced as a response to trading partners — chiefly the United States — that do not offer Canadian suppliers reciprocal access to their own procurement markets.

The Building Canada Act (SC 2025, c. 2, s. 4), enacted as Division 4 of Part 2 of the One Canadian Economy Act (Bill C-5, 45th Parliament, 1st Session, Carney government), creates a federal "Projects of National Interest" (PNI) designation mechanism that streamlines and can override standard federal environmental and regulatory reviews for critical infrastructure and critical mineral mining projects. Once designated by the Governor-in-Council, a project automatically receives federal regulatory approvals listed in Schedule 2 of the Act, subject to conditions established by the Minister, through a single consolidated review process. Additional projects may be added to the Schedule over the five years following the Act's entry into force. This is the first Canadian project-permitting and approval-streamlining statute on the IPTM register, complementing the existing CA critical-minerals subsidy, tax-credit, and sovereign-fund instruments.

Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15bn federal Crown investment vehicle, announced on 14 May 2025 a CAD 156 million (~USD 111.85M) cornerstone investment in a CAD 350 million non-brokered private placement by Foran Mining Corporation. CGF is acquiring 52,000,000 common shares at CAD 3.00 per share, alongside co-investors Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (~CAD 90M), affiliates of Fairfax Financial Holdings (~CAD 75M), an institutional investor (~CAD 28M) and Foran's CEO (~CAD 1M). Proceeds fund development of Foran's McIlvenna Bay copper-zinc-gold-silver project in Saskatchewan, and CGF frames the deal as advancing Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy.

Governor in Council made the China Surtax Order (2024) (SOR/2024-187) on 20 September 2024 under subsection 53(2) of the Customs Tariff, imposing a 100% surtax on Chinese-origin electric and certain hybrid passenger automobiles, trucks, buses, and delivery vans (HS chapters 87.02–87.04) effective 1 October 2024. An amending order (SOR/2024-202, registered 11 October 2024) extended a 25% surtax to a defined list of Chinese-origin steel and aluminum products (HS chapters 72 and 76) effective 22 October 2024. Canada framed the measures as a response to Chinese state-led overcapacity, non-market subsidies, and weak labour/environment standards, and explicitly aligned them with the US Section 301 hike and the EU's parallel anti-subsidy duties on Chinese EVs.

The Global Minimum Tax Act (GMTA), enacted as section 81 of the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1 (Bill C-69; S.C. 2024, c. 17) and receiving royal assent on 20 June 2024, is Canada's primary legislative implementation of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework Pillar Two GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion) rules. The Act imposes a 15% minimum effective tax rate on Canadian members of multinational enterprise groups with consolidated annual revenue ≥ EUR 750 million via an Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) and a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT); both apply retroactively to fiscal years beginning on or after 31 December 2023, meaning the first compliance returns are due as early as 30 June 2026. The Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR) backstop was deliberately carved out for separate later enactment. Canada structured the GMTA as a stand-alone statute — distinct from its EU, UK, and Korean counterparts, which amend or transpose into existing tax legislation — and administered by the Canada Revenue Agency as the collecting authority.

Bill C-34, the National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act, received Royal Assent on 22 March 2024 — the first major overhaul of the Investment Canada Act (ICA) national-security review regime since 2009. Non-regulatory provisions came into force on 3 September 2024 by Order Fixing P.C. 2024-826 (SI/TR-32, Canada Gazette Part II). The Act creates a pre-implementation filing obligation for investments in prescribed "sensitive sectors" (final list set by regulation), gives the Minister of Innovation new authority to extend reviews and impose interim conditions or accept undertakings without a Governor-in-Council order, raises monetary penalties, and establishes information-sharing authorities with allied screening regimes. ISED's updated NSR Guidelines (5 March 2025) elevate "economic security" to a standalone factor and align the prescribed-sector list with the Sensitive Technology List (STL).

Canada's Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (S.C. 2023, c. 9; "Bill S-211") received Royal Assent on 11 May 2023 and entered into force on 1 January 2024. It imposes a binding annual supply-chain disclosure obligation on government institutions and in-scope private-sector entities (any two of: ≥CAD 20m assets, ≥CAD 40m revenue, ≥250 employees) requiring a public report by 31 May each year detailing steps taken to prevent and reduce the risk of forced or child labour in their supply chains. The Act also amends the Canadian Customs Tariff (Schedule 9898.00.00) to extend the existing import prohibition on goods produced with forced labour to also cover goods produced with child labour, enforced at the border by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Criminal penalties of up to CAD 250,000 apply for non-compliance, false reporting, or obstruction.

Natural Resources Canada published Canada's Critical Minerals Strategy on 8 December 2022, committing $3.8 billion CAD over eight years (drawn from Budget 2022 and the Fall Economic Statement 2022) to develop Canada's position across the critical-minerals value chain. The strategy designates 31 priority minerals, sets six strategic pillars (data and geoscience, investment and trade, indigenous participation, workforce development, regulatory environment, and sustainability), and explicitly positions Canada as the preferred FTA-partner supplier for the US Inflation Reduction Act's domestic-content requirements under CUSMA/USMCA.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations via SOR/2022-167, registered and in force 25 June 2022, adding four new schedules targeting Belarus over its support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Schedule 3 bans export of advanced technologies (quantum computers, advanced manufacturing and cryogenic equipment); Schedule 4 bans export of luxury goods (Part 1) and import of luxury goods from Belarus (Part 2); Schedule 5 bans export of goods usable in weapons manufacturing, including raw materials such as tungsten, aluminium and titanium, engines, industrial machinery, vehicles, aircraft and maritime vessels. The same instrument added 13 Belarusian officials and 2 state entities to the asset-freeze list.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations via SOR/2022-102, registered 18 May 2022, adding Schedule 6 (luxury goods) and Schedule 7 (goods usable in weapons production/manufacturing) to the list of items prohibited for export to, and in Schedule 6's case also import from, Russia. Both schedules took effect 60 days after registration (17 July 2022). Schedule 6 covers luxury alcohol, tobacco, textiles, footwear, clothing, jewellery, kitchenware, art, and some machinery; Schedule 7 covers raw materials (including tungsten and aluminium), pumps, vehicle parts, construction equipment, watercraft, and medical/dental/surgical equipment. The regulation also added 14 individuals to the Schedule 1 asset-freeze list.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations via SOR/2022-075, registered and in force 5 April 2022, in response to Belarus's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The amendment prohibits any person in Canada and any Canadian outside Canada from providing insurance, reinsurance or underwriting services for aviation and aerospace products owned, controlled, registered to, chartered by or operated by Belarus or a Belarusian person. A new section 3.6 separately establishes export prohibitions on goods and technologies listed on a Belarus Restricted Goods and Technologies List, incorporated by reference, aligning Canada's Belarus measures with its parallel Russia export-control regime. The same instrument added nine individuals (Belarusian oligarchs and defence officials) to the Schedule 1 asset-freeze list, outside this action's scope.

Canada amended the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations via SOR/2022-067, registered and in force 24 March 2022, establishing a new "Restricted Goods and Technologies List" and prohibiting any person in Canada, and any Canadian outside Canada, from exporting, selling, supplying or shipping any listed good or technology to Russia or to any person in Russia. The list is maintained and published separately by Global Affairs Canada and covers items with dual civilian/military applications across electronics, computers, telecommunications, sensors and lasers, navigation and avionics, marine, aerospace and transportation equipment.