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

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.

The Government of Canada and the Province of Manitoba jointly launched the Climate and Economy Solutions Program (CESP), providing up to CAD 23 million (~USD 16.4 million) in grants for cost- and emissions-reducing energy projects in the province. The program is funded primarily through Canada's Low Carbon Economy Fund (Recapitalized Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund), topped up with roughly CAD 4.5 million from the provincial government, and is administered by Manitoba Environment and Climate Change. Eligible grant recipients include municipalities, Northern Affairs communities, Indigenous communities, multi-unit residential building operators, and businesses/not-for-profits partnering with those entities, for stationary-equipment retrofit and efficiency projects, industrial/commercial vehicle retrofits, self-generated renewable energy and fuel-production projects, and EV-charger installations. The initial application window closed December 1, 2025.

On 1 October 2025, Canada Growth Fund Inc. (CGF), a CAD 15 billion federal Crown corporation, committed CAD 30 million as part of a growth investment in Cascadia Windows & Doors, a British Columbia-based manufacturer of high-performance fiberglass windows and doors, led by private-equity firm MKB Equity Partners with additional participation from Blue Earth Capital. Per CGF's own FY2025 annual report, the commitment totals CAD 31 million including CAD 1 million in partnership fees and expenses, of which CAD 19.1 million was deployed during Fiscal 2025. CGF states the capital will fund expansion of Cascadia's manufacturing capacity and North American market footprint, accelerating deployment of fiberglass window systems that support buildings-sector decarbonization (Cascadia's products claim up to 250% improved thermal performance versus aluminum frames and ~58% recycled content).

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.

On June 27, 2025, the Government of Canada, by the Governor in Council, ordered Hikvision Canada Inc. — the Canadian subsidiary of Chinese video-surveillance manufacturer Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. — to wind up its Canadian business and cease all operations within 120 days, following a national security review under the Investment Canada Act. The order requires Hikvision Canada to immediately stop sales, marketing and after-sales support, and to terminate staff and contracts within the wind-up window. Alongside the order, the government prohibited federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations from purchasing or using Hikvision products and directed audits to remove existing installations from federal facilities.

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 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.