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

The Canada Infrastructure Bank committed CAD 54 million in equity loans under its Indigenous Equity Initiative to support First Nations ownership stakes in the Wasoqonatl Reliability Intertie, a 160-kilometre, 345-kV transmission line running parallel to the existing Onslow, Nova Scotia-to-Salisbury, New Brunswick connection. CAD 36 million goes to Wskijinu'k Mtmo'taqnuow Agency Limited, giving Nova Scotia's 13 Mi'kmaw First Nations an equity stake, and CAD 18 million to MUIN Transmission Limited Partnership, giving New Brunswick Mi'gmaq First Nations their first ownership position in a large-scale clean-energy project. The new financing brings CIB's total commitment to the Wasoqonatl project to CAD 285 million.

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.

The Government of Ontario's Invest Ontario Fund agreed to provide Marvell Technology with a grant of up to CAD 17 million to support the company's planned CAD 238 million, five-year expansion of its Ontario R&D workforce. The expansion is aimed at developing next-generation semiconductor solutions for AI data-centre infrastructure, including an 8,000-square-foot optical lab, and is expected to create up to 350 high-value technology jobs at a new office near the University of Toronto plus expanded operations in York Region and Ottawa. Support is subject to Invest Ontario and Marvell reaching a definitive funding agreement.

The Government of Manitoba announced CAD 51 million in new provincial funding for Arctic Gateway Group — the First Nations- and Bayline community-owned operator of the Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill — to fund capital improvements bringing the rail line up to Class I freight-load standard and to build a new critical-minerals storage and loading facility at the port. The announcement was made jointly with the federal government as part of the "Port of Churchill Plus" initiative, bringing cumulative provincial investment in the project to CAD 87.5 million and combined federal-provincial commitment to CAD 262.5 million over five years (including CAD 175 million in federal funding announced March 2025). The project is explicitly positioned as building sovereign Arctic export capacity for critical minerals and potash, reducing reliance on southern rail/port corridors and US-routed trade.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank provided a CAD 139.5 million (approx. USD 99.4 million) loan to BC Hydro, a provincial Crown utility, to fund the early-works phase of the North Coast Transmission Line (NCTL) in northwest British Columbia. Early works cover project planning, engineering, fieldwork, procurement, First Nations consultation and stakeholder engagement ahead of construction. The financing responds to anticipated electricity demand growth from port operations, mining (including critical-minerals projects), hydrogen production, LNG and technology sectors that is expected to exceed the capacity of the region's existing single 500-kV transmission line from Prince George to Terrace.

Canada made SOR/2025-228, Regulations Amending the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations, registered 2025-11-06 and announced by Minister Anand on 2025-11-12. The regulations add 13 individuals to Part 1 of Schedule 1, 11 entities to Part 2 of Schedule 1, and 100 vessels (by IMO number) to Schedule 1.1, freezing their Canadian assets and prohibiting dealings. Targets include Russian LNG-trading entities, drone-programme developers, cyber-infrastructure suppliers for hybrid operations against Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan-based financial enablers (including Capital Bank of Central Asia and the A7 payments platform) used to evade earlier Russia sanctions. The 100-vessel designation targets Russia's "shadow fleet" used to move crude oil, LNG and arms while evading the G7 price cap and flag-state controls.

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.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank provided a CAD 42 million (approx. USD 30.7 million) repayable loan to George Gordon Development Limited (GGDL), the economic-development arm of George Gordon First Nation, to fund the Wicehtowak Solar project — a 32.4 MW solar facility in the Rural Municipality of Dufferin, Saskatchewan. The loan enables GGFN to acquire full ownership of the project, which will supply Saskatchewan's grid under a 30-year virtual power purchase agreement with SaskPower and deliver power directly to the adjacent K+S Potash Canada mine. Natural Resources Canada separately provided a CAD 33 million grant under the Smart Renewables Electrification Pathways Program toward the same project.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank reached financial close on a CAD 660 million (approx. USD 473 million) loan to Irving Pulp & Paper to support "Project NextGen," a CAD 1.5 billion modernization of the company's Kraft pulp mill in west Saint John, New Brunswick — the largest investment in the Canadian forest products industry since 1993. The financing replaces 1970s-era recovery-boiler and steam-turbine technology, adds up to 145 MW of renewable generation capacity (50 MW for mill use, the remainder exported to the provincial grid), and is projected to cut emissions per tonne of Kraft pulp by 50% while eliminating heavy-fuel-oil combustion.

The Government of Canada announced CAD 16.5 million in cumulative federal funding (CAD 13.5 million newly announced, on top of an earlier CAD 3 million tranche) for the Kluane N'tsi (Lhù'ààn Mân N'tsi) Wind Energy Project, an Indigenous-owned 900-kW wind turbine with battery storage integrated into the diesel grid serving Burwash Landing and Destruction Bay, Yukon. Funding is drawn from three federal programs — Natural Resources Canada's Clean Energy for Rural and Remote Communities program (~CAD 13 million), Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada's Arctic Energy Fund (CAD 2 million), and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada's Northern REACHE program (CAD 1.5 million) — with the Government of Yukon contributing a further ~CAD 2 million. The project allows the Kluane First Nation to operate the community diesel grid in "diesel-off" mode when wind generation is sufficient, the first grid-scale project in Canada to do so, cutting diesel use by roughly 300,000 litres per year.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank reached financial close on a CAD 100 million (approx. USD 72 million) loan to Cando Rail & Terminals to fund a new Sturgeon West Terminal, doubling rail-car storage and staging capacity at its existing Sturgeon Terminal hub in Alberta's Industrial Heartland. The expansion adds up to 3,700 new railcar storage/staging spaces, including 1,100 spaces for unit trains with Class 1 railways, and is intended to strengthen trade corridors to the ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver. CIB projects up to 50 new full-time jobs and CAD 22.3 million in annual regional GDP contribution once operations begin in late 2026.

On 29 July 2025, the Government of British Columbia signed a CAD 200 (USD 144.9) million contribution agreement with Haisla Nation to fund the electrification infrastructure needed to run the Cedar LNG export terminal near Kitimat on clean B.C. grid power rather than on-site natural gas. The funding covers a new 287-kilovolt transmission line, a new substation, new distribution lines, and nearshore electrification, and adds to CAD 200 million in federal support for the facility announced earlier in 2025. Cedar LNG is a floating LNG terminal jointly owned by Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corporation, scheduled to begin operations in late 2028.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank closed a CAD 24 million (approx. USD 18 million) loan to the Onimiskiw Opitciwan Limited Partnership, owned by the Atikamekw of Opitciwan First Nation in Northern Quebec, to build and operate a 4.8-megawatt biomass cogeneration facility. The plant will burn bark, sawdust and woodchips from an adjacent sawmill to generate electricity and process steam, displacing an estimated 4.6 million litres of diesel per year and cutting over 11,000 tonnes of emissions annually for the remote, diesel-dependent community of 2,500 people.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank, a federal Crown corporation, committed a CAD 1 billion (approx. USD 734.9 million) below-market-rate credit facility to BC Ferries, split into a CAD 690 million tranche for four new hybrid "Major Vessels" and a CAD 310 million tranche for terminal electrification infrastructure. The financing replaces vessels between 48 and 61 years old and is projected to save BC Ferries roughly CAD 650 million in interest costs over the loan term versus private-market financing. The vessel-construction contract was separately awarded to China Merchants Industry Weihai Shipyards (CMI Weihai), a Chinese state-owned shipbuilder, making this a case of Canadian federal concessional financing underwriting offshore (Chinese) vessel procurement rather than domestic shipbuilding capacity.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank committed a CAD 50 million (approx. USD 36.5 million) loan to Creative Energy, an operator of district energy systems, to finance deep-decarbonization building-retrofit projects in British Columbia and Ontario. The financing is part of CIB's Building Retrofits Initiative, under which the Bank has committed more than CAD 1.2 billion to sustainable building upgrades. The flagship project under the loan retrofits 12 buildings at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, switching from natural-gas heating to a centralized air-source/water-source heat-pump district system projected to cut heating-related emissions at the campus by 95%.

On 25 June 2025 the Government of Ontario announced the CAD 15 million (~USD 11 million) Ontario Shipbuilding Grant Program (OSGP), part of a wider CAD 215 million package to support the province's shipbuilding and marine sector. OSGP offers non-repayable grants covering up to 50% of eligible project costs for skills training, infrastructure improvements, and machinery/equipment purchases at Ontario shipyards. The stated purpose is to expand provincial shipbuilding capacity in support of Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy and to bolster Ontario manufacturers facing US tariffs and economic uncertainty; applications opened in late July 2025 via Transfer Payment Ontario, with a first intake running July-September 2025.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank, a federal Crown corporation, reached financial close on a CAD 55 million enabling-infrastructure loan to Torngat Metals Ltd., its first investment in the critical minerals sector. The loan funds early-stage work — utility connections, airstrip rehabilitation, and infrastructure upgrades — ahead of construction of an open-pit mine and concentration plant at the Strange Lake rare earth deposit (Nunavik, Quebec) and a separation plant in Sept-Îles. The financing is paired with a separate CAD 110 million bridge facility from Export Development Canada, bringing combined federal support to CAD 165 million, and is framed by CIB as advancing the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank committed CAD 108.3 million (approx. USD 78.9 million) to the 102.2-megawatt Mesgi'g Ugju's'n 2 (MU2) wind farm in the Gespe'gewa'gi (Gaspesie-Iles-de-la-Madeleine) region of Quebec. The financing comprises a CAD 15.8 million equity loan to the Mi'gmawei Mawiomi Business Corporation (MMBC) — CIB's first Indigenous equity loan in Quebec — and a CAD 92.5 million construction loan for the project as a whole. MU2 is a partnership between MMBC, representing the Gesgapegiag, Gespeg and Listuguj Mi'gmaq communities, and Innergex Renewable Energy Inc., with a 30-year power purchase agreement with Hydro-Quebec.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Scotiabank announced a CAD 100 million (approx. USD 73 million) financing partnership under CIB's Building Retrofit Initiative (BRI), CIB's second partnership with a Canadian financial institution under that program. Scotiabank Commercial Banking Real Estate clients — owners of commercial, industrial, office, and multi-residential buildings — gain access to low-cost financing for deep energy retrofits (envelope upgrades, HVAC electrification, automation/fuel switching, lighting, EV charging) that cut a building's emissions by at least 30%. Scotiabank markets, originates, underwrites, and administers the loans on the partnership's behalf; CIB has now committed more than CAD 1 billion under the BRI overall.

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.

The Canada Infrastructure Bank closed a CAD 97 million (approx. USD 70.7 million) loan to finance the 84-megawatt Wedgeport Wind project in the Municipal District of Argyle, Nova Scotia. The project is a partnership between Elemental Energy, Stevens Wind and Sipekne'katik First Nation (SFN), and comprises 12 Nordex seven-megawatt turbines built under Nova Scotia's Rate Based Procurement process. It is CIB's second partnership with Elemental Energy and SFN following an earlier Nova Scotia wind deal.

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).