Ontario Proposes Limits on Critical Mineral and Essential Infrastructure Investments by Non-Canadians

In a political environment charged with concerns about foreign control over critical minerals and essential infrastructure, the Ontario government has introduced new legislation to safeguard those assets from what it describes as hostile foreign actors and regimes. If enacted, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025, which has just received second reading in the Ontario legislature, would introduce measures to prevent acquisitions by foreign governments and corporations in those sectors.

Currently, the only limits on such acquisitions are under the federal Investment Canada Act (ICA). The ICA imposes governmental approval requirements where (among other things) the relevant (federal) minister concludes there are reasonable grounds to believe the investment could be injurious to national security and/or where the transaction exceeds a prescribed size threshold. Recent guidelines released by the federal government concerning the national security aspect provide that consideration will be given as to whether an investment has the potential to undermine Canada’s economic security, and the federal government has publicly announced that acquisitions of critical mineral operations that exceed the prescribed thresholds will only be approved in “the most exceptional circumstances.” 

The changes contemplated by Ontario’s proposed legislation, by contrast, are tied to rights and remedies within provincial jurisdiction in relation to the ownership and operation of mining assets in the province, and extend beyond the ICA’s scope which focuses on acquisitions of businesses. Ontario’s proposed legislation also applies to far smaller mining operations than the operations contemplated by the ICA. The broad new measures would permit the relevant (Ontario) minister to:

• suspend or remove a party from, or deny it access to or status on, the Mining Lands Administration System (the platform for registration of mining claims),
• prohibit a party from obtaining a prospector’s license, or order the termination of any prospector’s license,
• deny the issuance of a mining lease, and/or
• subject to the approval of cabinet, outright revoke a mining claim or registration or terminate a mining lease,

in each case where the minister determines those steps are desirable to protect the strategic mineral supply chain.

The proposed law also allows the minister to establish a mine authorization and permitting delivery team for any project, giving the province direct visibility into the application, review and decision-making processes for obtaining the required permits and authorizations.

We will continue to monitor the status of the proposed legislation and provide further updates concerning significant developments. For further information, please contact any member of our Mining Group or Competition and Foreign Investment Group.