Ottawa and Ontario pledge $8.7B for steel, auto and critical minerals

OTTAWA · Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled an $8.7-billion joint support package on Wednesday for Ontario industries affected by U.S. tariffs. The funding targets the steel and auto sectors, along with road infrastructure for the mineral-rich Ring of Fire region. Carney said the U.S. tariffs have disrupted a long-standing trade relationship, putting workers and businesses "at a disadvantage and under a cloud of uncertainty." The Prime Minister stated the world may have changed, but Ontario and Canada still possess the minerals, steel, ingenuity and workers to secure their future. "Protecting what we have is not enough. We have to go further to transform our economy and to secure our future," Carney said.

The package includes a $5.22-billion Joint Steel Action Fund, with $3.55 billion from Ottawa and $1.67 billion from Ontario over five years. Carney said the investment will allow steel mills to upgrade machinery, manufacture more products Canada needs and expand to meet demand from markets other than the U.S. The government is also strengthening enforcement against foreign steel dumping. For the auto sector, $2.5 billion over two years is allocated, with $1.5 billion from the federal government and $1 billion from Ontario. The fund aims to help carmakers adopt new technology to build "the connected and electric vehicles of the future," Carney said.

Brian Kingston, president of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, said the funds would help protect Canadian jobs and investment at a "challenging" time. He welcomed a related regulatory change that will see greenhouse gas emissions standards for new vehicles remain at 2026 levels through the 2029 model year. Annual increases will resume for the 2030 model year, and the federal government's target of 75 per cent electric vehicle sales by 2035 remains unchanged. Kingston said pausing the regulation "gives companies some flexibility as they deal with a much more significant threat, which is of course U.S. tariffs." Evan Pivnick of Clean Energy Canada called the change a setback for the government's EV sales targets.

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The federal government is also committing up to $1 billion over three years to match Ontario's investment for building a road to the Ring of Fire. The remote region in northern Ontario is believed to hold vast quantities of critical minerals like nickel and chromite. Carney said Ottawa and Ontario are creating a coordinated permitting process to open mines, a procedure he said has historically taken over 15 years. The two governments also pledged to create a working group to engage with local Indigenous communities on economic development and conservation. The announcements come amid ongoing trade tensions, with the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa warning Canadians against attempting to influence American elections.

Carney and Ford dismissed the embassy's statement. "I have no interest at all interfering in American elections," Ford said. The Ontario Premier said he believes the relationship with the U.S. has changed "permanently." "No matter what happens in the midterms, no matter who sits in the White House, we're not going back to the way things were, and we need to plan accordingly," Ford said. Carney said he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday about international issues and trade. "We're ready to sit down and negotiate when the U.S. is, but a deal that's in the interest of Canadians," he said. The Prime Minister noted Canada's auto exports to the U.S. have fallen by more than 10 per cent due to tariffs.

With files from The Globe and Mail and CBC News