Canada Invests $193.3 Million to Strengthen Aluminum Industry and Critical Minerals Sector
The Government of Canada announced a $193.3 million investment under the Strategic Response Fund on October 23, 2026, supporting decarbonization and modernization projects by Rio Tinto and Aluminerie Alouette in Quebec.
On October 23, 2026, Minister Mélanie Joly announced in La Baie, Quebec, that the Government of Canada is investing $193.3 million under the Strategic Response Fund to advance the country's critical minerals sector and strengthen aluminum processing.
Of the total funding, $164.8 million is allocated to Rio Tinto’s $818.5 million initiative to strengthen and decarbonize its aluminum value chain in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. The company's projects include constructing a new billet casting centre at the Alma smelter and modernizing anode baking furnaces at the Grande-Baie smelter. Rio Tinto employs approximately 4,300 people in Quebec out of roughly 14,000 employees across its aluminum and mining segments in Canada.
An additional $28.5 million is directed toward Aluminerie Alouette’s $135 million project to modernize and optimize its electrolysis operations. Aluminerie Alouette is described as the largest aluminum smelter in North America, producing approximately 633,000 tonnes of primary aluminum annually and employing over 1,000 people.
The combined projects are expected to maintain approximately 6,000 full-time jobs across Quebec and Canada. The investments will also support 65 co-op student placements and foster collaborations with research institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Canada is home to nine primary aluminum smelters. The government stated that these investments aim to protect well-paying Canadian jobs against tariff pressures, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support decarbonization and energy efficiency improvements, enhance production capacity and reliability of regional operations, and reinforce Canada’s role in the global energy transition.