The M&E Dispatch // 125

Hello Everyone,

The proposed Buy Ontario Act is designed to hard‑wire Ontario‑first priorities into how the broader public sector spends more than $30 billion a year on goods and services. Ministries, municipalities, hospitals, school boards and other public buyers would be required to give preference to:

1. Ontario‑based suppliers, then

2. Other Canadian suppliers, and only then

3. International vendors

…as long as local options are available at a “reasonable” price and within reasonable timelines.

The bill comes with real enforcement teeth: the province is talking about fines, contract holdbacks and even barring non‑compliant vendors from future public contracts. It will be backed by official vendor lists of Ontario and Canadian suppliers to make it easier for public buyers to “Buy Ontario” by default.

Officially, this is framed as a way to protect hundreds of thousands of jobs in construction, steel, manufacturing and related sectors from U.S. tariffs and global volatility. Unofficially, it is also a classic sovereign‑tools play: use government purchasing power to anchor strategic supply chains at home.

Nowhere is that strategy more visible than in St. Thomas, where Norway’s Vianode is investing $3.2 billion to build North America’s largest low‑emission synthetic graphite plant, the anode material that every lithium‑ion battery needs. Once fully operational, the facility will produce up to 150,000 tonnes of synthetic graphite annually, enough material for roughly 2–3 million electric vehicles per year. Production is slated to begin in 2028, and site preparation is already underway.​

The project is precisely the kind of anchor investment the Buy Ontario framework is meant to protect and multiply. Vianode’s plant will employ 300 people initially, rising to as many as 1,000 at full build‑out, and it benefits from a conditional provincial loan of up to $670 million, a direct deployment of sovereign capital to onshore a critical link in the battery supply chain. Ottawa, meanwhile, has positioned the facility as a flagship project under Canada’s G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance, signaling that both levels of government will deploy “sovereign tools, mobilizing investments and securing offtake” to build secure, domestic supply chains for battery materials.​

What makes the Vianode story especially relevant to Buy Ontario is the value‑chain logic it represents. Synthetic graphite is one of the most China‑dependent inputs in modern batteries; North American automakers and battery producers have been scrambling to diversify. Vianode’s pitch is that its product generates up to 90% lower emissions than conventional synthetic graphite, a claim that hinges on Ontario’s low‑carbon electricity grid, roughly 90% nuclear, hydro, wind, solar and biofuels. In other words, the plant’s competitiveness rests on Ontario’s sovereign advantages in clean power and public policy support.​

The Buy Ontario Act adds a third pillar: procurement preference. While the law targets public‑sector buyers, its ripple effects will reach any supplier that wants to be on the province’s official vendor lists. If a municipality, hospital or school board procures EVs, battery storage or even backup power systems, vendors that can demonstrate Ontario‑made content, from graphite anodes to assembled packs, will have a clear edge. Over time, that preference creates a semi‑captive market for Vianode’s output and for any future cathode, electrolyte or cell manufacturers that set up shop nearby.

For the mining and energy sectors, the message is unmistakable. Ontario is not just talking about exploration incentives or royalty credits; it is using public procurement, sovereign loans and low‑carbon electricity to pull entire supply chains across the border. Upstream miners of nickel, lithium and other battery metals can now point to a growing, policy‑protected customer base in St. Thomas and beyond. Midstream processors have a template for how to secure public backing: anchor a strategic facility, quantify the emissions advantage of Ontario’s grid, and align with both provincial procurement rules and federal critical minerals diplomacy.

The Vianode project, in short, is the physical embodiment of what Buy Ontario aims to achieve. It shows that the province’s $30‑billion procurement stick and its multi‑billion‑dollar financing carrots are not theoretical, they are already steering capital into the critical minerals and battery materials that will define the next decade of energy and transportation.

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// The Hustle

As a born and raised “Western Canadian” it’s staggering just how many people there are down in this part of Canada.

The other day my wife and I took a short drive to Newmarket to sell a set of Goalie Pads to a young fella. As we crested a rise on the 401 I could see about 5 KMs of bumper to bumper traffic, boy was it was a sight.

According to a quick google at it’s peak the 401 will handle 27,000 vehicles through it’s busiest stretch - per hour.

Don’t tell Calgary, but the Deerfoot out here, would be an unnamed collector route.

The boys are off to Ottawa this weekend for a two game stint against CIHA, my wife and I are going to stay put here in the GTA and get some work done.

On that note, I’ve released a tonne (you pick which type) of new updates to the Miningandenergy.ca site to make it even more valuable to you all.

Enjoy the weekend all!
-Lee