Farming, trade, energy and economic news that matters to Canada, in short plain reports.
Friday, November 13
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Parliamentary Secretary Yasir Naqvi highlighted a new federal-Ontario action plan in Sault Ste. Marie on November 13, Global Affairs Canada said. The department said Ottawa has given over $25 billion in help to workers and businesses hit by U.S. tariffs. Under the plan, federal greenhouse gas limits on new light-duty vehicles will be held at their 2026 level until the end of the 2029 model year. The governments will also set up a Joint Steel Action Fund and a Canada-Ontario Steel Task Force, and for critical minerals the plan includes road infrastructure, a joint permitting process and a working group for engagement with First Nations.
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China ranked as Canada's second-biggest trading partner among single countries in 2025, with $125.6 billion in two-way merchandise trade, Global Affairs Canada said on November 13. The same release announced that Foreign Minister Anita Anand will be abroad between November 14 and 19. In Shenzhen she is to join the prime minister at the APEC leaders' meeting and hold talks with officials and business representatives on investment and trade links under a new Strategic Partnership. Before that she stops in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for a Francophonie ministerial conference and summit.
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Eighteen businesses in the Calgary area received up to $1 million each, in payments that do not have to be repaid, the federal government said on November 13. Eleanor Olszewski, the minister responsible for PrairiesCan, made the announcement in Calgary, and the total was $17.6 million. Officials said the firms include businesses in agriculture, health sciences, construction and advanced manufacturing. The money comes from a $3.45 billion tariff-response program, which officials described as part of a $7.5 billion federal package for workers and businesses hit by U.S. tariffs.
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The Prime Minister's Office said Mark Carney met leaders from Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, France, Denmark, Latvia and Sweden on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Dublin on November 12. It said the European Union is Canada's second-largest trading partner for goods and services, with bilateral trade up 10% from 2024 to 2025, to approximately $178 billion. The office also said Canadian LNG supply agreements with European buyers total up to 8 million tonnes a year for 20 years from 2032, and are waiting on a final investment decision on one project.
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The Alberta government said on November 10 that two of its legislators, Angela Pitt and Glenn van Dijken, will attend National Conference of State Legislatures task force meetings in Sacramento, California, from November 12 to 15. Pitt will speak for Alberta on the energy panel. Van Dijken sits on the agriculture panel, where the province said he will discuss cross-border farm trade and food security. The province said agri-food exports to the United States were about C$8.6 billion in 2025, and that U.S. customers buy 50.8% of Alberta's agri-food exports.
Monday, November 9
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Canada will keep its broad relief from tariffs on certain U.S. goods in place for another year, to June 30, 2028, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced on November 9. The department said the relief will now reach non-steel items bought for mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction, and goods that public education bodies use. Relief will end for certain goods with domestic production: certain trailers on December 1, 2026, and certain aluminum wire, extrusions and paperboard products on February 1, 2027. The department listed agricultural production among the uses of non-steel goods that the relief covers.
Official figures
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu held the second Canada-China economic and financial strategic dialogue with China's Vice Premier He Lifeng in Vancouver on November 8 and 9. Officials said two finance ministries signed a memorandum of understanding, and Canada's financial regulator signed a cooperation agreement with its Chinese counterpart. The department said China bought $35.0 billion of Canadian goods in 2025, a rise of 16.8% from 2024, and sales are up 41% so far in 2026 against the same period in 2025. It said China ranks second among Canada's customers for seafood, agriculture and forest products, with sales of about $10.2 billion in 2025.