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Ontario Economy

A milestone moment at Sault, Michigan’s big dig – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – September 27, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers $3-billion lock project soldiers on to 2030 completion

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delivered a update on its US$3.22-billion construction project to carve out a new lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

The Lake Superior side of the approach wall for ships was declared substantially complete on Sept. 17. The contractors, Kokosing-Alberici, of Westerville, Ohio, were awarded that segment of the project – valued at US$117 million – beginning in September 2020.

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BACK ROADS BILL Roadside labour monument remembers tragedy – by Bill Steer (Timmins Today – September 7, 2024)

 

https://www.timminstoday.com/

This week Bill finally stops at a roadside monument he should have long ago

Labour Day has just passed; it is an important statutory holiday that means more than the back-to-school transition and the pending end of summer.

Always on the way to somewhere else on the back roads I am ashamed to say, over decades, I have passed by this roadside monument far too many times. That misplaced streak ended recently. At this location Highway 11 North is straight as an arrow. You can see the overgrown derelict farmsteads of “broken promises and shattered dreams,” along the way.

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Canadian billionaire Barry Zekelman weighs his options after amassing equity stake in Algoma Steel – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – September 6, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Canadian billionaire Barry Zekelman isn’t ruling out a takeover of Algoma Steel Group Inc. as he weighs several options after his privately held steel products company recently took an equity stake in the venerable Canadian steel maker.

Chicago-based Zekelman Industries in late July revealed in a 13D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it amassed a 5-per-cent stake in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.-based Algoma. Such filings are required for activist as opposed to passive investors. In the filing, Zekelman Industries said it may engage with management and the board, or other shareholders about “potential business combinations, dispositions or other transactions.”

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Green steel: Inside Algoma Steel’s massive project to go electric – by Jeffrey Jones (Globe and Mail – September 1, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Algoma Steel Inc.’s smokestacks have been a fixture on the bank of the St. Marys River at the eastern end of Lake Superior for more than a century. Its mill has played a crucial role churning out an essential ingredient for the country’s industrialization as well as jobs for generations in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

That’s meant long-term benefits, as the company provided the region with employment and an economic base. But with that has come uncertainty during a number of flirtations with bankruptcy as steel markets gyrated. The use of coal in its blast furnaces triggered climate-warming emissions along with health concerns among nearby residents.

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‘Buy North America’ is Doug Ford’s new mantra as U.S. trade talk worries Canadian premiers – by Kristin Rushowy (Toronto Star – July 17, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

With tough protectionist trade talk coming from U.S. presidential candidates, Premier Doug Ford says it’s time to change the message to “buy North America.”

HALIFAX — With tough protectionist trade talk coming from U.S. presidential candidates, Premier Doug Ford says it’s time to change the message to “buy North America.”

“We are facing a lot of challenges in the country, as a new president will be elected (this November) — that was a big conversation,” Ford said on Tuesday after emerging from a day of discussions among all 13 provincial and territorial leaders at the annual Council of the Federation meeting.

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Mining skills shortage looms as Ontario gears up for EV boom – by Darius Snieckus (National Observer – June 4, 2024)

https://www.nationalobserver.com/

Ontario’s mining industry risks a shortfall of over 3,500 skilled green-collar workers by 2040, unless it jump-starts education and training for the new generation of technicians needed as Canada’s critical minerals-hungry electric vehicle (EV) sector gears up this decade, according to a new strategy report unveiled by the government.

The province last week launched its Critical Minerals Talent Strategy, a multi-department initiative developed by the government’s Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) to head off this employment bottleneck as mining deepens its focus on extracting the cobalt, lithium, nickel and other materials key to manufacturing EV batteries.

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Canada’s next EV supply chain plant landing in Port Colborne, Ont. – by Janyce McGregor (CBC News Politics – May 13, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/

Joint venture between Asahi Kasei Corp., Honda Canada will build Canada’s 1st lithium ion separator plant

The next community set for a massive boost to its local economy as part of Honda Canada’s $15-billion investment to establish a Canadian electric vehicle supply chain will be Port Colborne, Ont.

Company executives are expected to join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, as well as federal Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Ontario’s economic development minister, Vic Fedeli, and municipal leaders at an official announcement on Tuesday.

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Trudeau and Ford unveil Honda’s plan to build four new factories in Ontario – by Robert BenzieQueen’s Park and Rob Ferguson (Toronto Star – April 25, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

The Japanese automaker will have an electric vehicle factory and auto assembly plant in a region where they have been making gasoline-powered cars and trucks since 1986.

This Honda accord is worth a cool $15 billion. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday that Honda will build four new factories in Ontario, producing 240,000 electric vehicles as the Japanese auto giant expands its footprint.

Fuelled by $5-billion in public money, the expansion will create 1,000 new jobs at Honda, which already employs 4,200 people in Alliston, plus thousands of spinoff positions in parts production and construction of the new facilities.

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Honda makes multibillion-dollar deal to build electric vehicle factory in Ontario: sources – by Alex Ballingall and Robert Benzie (Toronto Star – April 23, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Honda has agreed to establish a new, multibillion-dollar electric vehicle operation in Ontario, according to government sources.

OTTAWA — Japanese automaker Honda has agreed to establish a major new, multibillion-dollar electric vehicle operation in Ontario, according to federal and provincial government sources.

The deal is expected to be announced Thursday at Honda’s existing factory in Alliston, north of Toronto, where the company will reveal plans to bring a “massive project” to Ontario for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries and other components, government sources with knowledge of the situation told the Star.

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Queen’s Park and Ottawa caught off guard by Ford’s delay of EV manufacturing in Ontario – by Robert Benzie and Tonda MacCharles (Toronto Star – April 6, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Ford Canada announced Thursday that it would postpone all electric vehicle production at its Oakville assembly plant by two years until 2027 due to softening demand.

Queen’s Park and Ottawa, which have jointly pledged billions in electric vehicle manufacturing subsidies, were jolted by Ford Canada’s move to delay domestic EV production. Ford Canada announced Thursday it would postpone all electric vehicle production at its Oakville assembly plant by two years until 2027 due to softening demand.

That move came in the wake of the provincial and federal governments ponying up $295 million each in 2020 to boost EV production there. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the federal industry department officials were given any advance warning of the car company’s decision, with officials learning of it in the news.

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We rented a Tesla to explore Ontario’s EV supply chain. We saw the dirty, the clean and everything in between – by Marco Chown Oved and Steve Russell (Toronto Star – March 10, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

In the Great Ontario EV Road Trip Part 2, two Star journalists head to the refineries and plants kickstarting the province’s clean revolution.

NORTH BAY—How fast can you get those burgers out? The wait staff appears taken aback by our question. We’re in North Bay and have stopped to charge our EV on the way to Sudbury. We plugged in and hurried over to Syl’s Neighbourhood Kitchen for a quick bite.

But we only have 25 minutes or so before Tesla starts charging us an idle fee for taking up a charger spot when it’s full. Fortunately, Syl’s kitchen is quick and the food’s delicious. We make it back to our car with time to spare. Charging your EV isn’t like gassing up your car.

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We took a Tesla on a road trip through northern Ontario in the coldest week of the year. Could our EV handle it? – by Marco Chown Oved and Steve Russell (Toronto Star – March 9, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

Star journalists drove a Tesla 2,300 km around northern Ontario, exploring the emerging EV supply chain from mine to refinery to battery plant to assembly.

HWY. 11, SOMEWHERE NORTH OF NORTH BAY—It was -12 C and dropping. The snow was blowing diagonally and traffic was crawling in single file, sticking to the ruts between white humps on Highway 11. Then my car started talking to me.

“You’re almost too far from known chargers,” it said. “Plan your next charge. All known charging locations will be out of range soon.” The map on the GPS showed the nearest charger behind us, in North Bay. We were driving north — away from it. Soon, we wouldn’t have enough charge to make it back.

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OPINION:The strengthening case for nuclear – by Marcus Gee (Globe and Mail – February 10, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Last week, the Ontario government announced plans to spend many years and billions of dollars refurbishing an old nuclear plant in Pickering, just east of Toronto. Pure folly, said its critics. In fact, the decision makes good, solid sense, both for Ontario and the planet.

Winning the battle to control global warming depends in large part on powering more things with electricity – specifically electricity that isn’t produced by burning fossil fuels. Making that energy shift is a huge task, but Ontario has two big advantages.

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OPINION: The folly of Ontario’s nuclear power play – by Mark Winfield (Globe and Mail – February 7, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Mark Winfield is a professor of environmental and urban change at York University and co-chair of the faculty’s Sustainable Energy Initiative. He is also co-editor of Sustainable Energy Transitions in Canada (UBC Press, 2023).

The Ontario government’s announcement last week of its intention to pursue the refurbishment of the Pickering B nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Ontario between Toronto and Pickering represents a strategic triumph for the provincially owned Ontario Power Generation utility. The project would significantly reinforce the utility’s already dominant position in the province’s electricity system.

How well the decision serves the interests of Ontario residents, taxpayers and electricity ratepayers, and advances the sustainable decarbonization of the province’s electricity system, is another question altogether.

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Ford says Northern Ontario mines will help create economic boom – by Staff (Sudbury.com – January 24, 2024)

https://www.sudbury.com/

Premier addresses municipal leaders at the annual meeting of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he is counting on the Northern Ontario mining industry to help build Ontario into an economic powerhouse for the battery electric vehicle (BEV) industry.

Ford was speaking Jan. 23 at the annual conference of the 2024 Rural Ontario Municipal Association(ROMA) when he spoke about the importance of the Ontario critical minerals strategy for the future of EVs in Ontario.

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