(La Baie, Canada) - Ottawa has announced $193.3 million for aluminum modernization projects in Quebec, linking industrial support with efforts to reduce emissions.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced the Strategic Response Fund contributions October 23. The funding announcement is not evidence that the projects or their projected benefits are complete.

Two contributions, separate project budgets

Rio Tinto is to receive $164.8 million toward projects with a combined cost of $818.5 million in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. They include a new billet casting centre at Alma and upgrades to anode baking furnaces at Grande-Baie, according to the federal release.

Aluminerie Alouette is allocated $28.5 million toward a $135 million modernization of its electrolysis operations. Ottawa says the work is intended to improve energy performance and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The government expects the projects together to maintain approximately 6,000 full-time jobs and support 65 co-op placements. Those are forecasts, not a count of newly created jobs.

The contributions address industrial competitiveness under tariff pressure. They do not themselves establish that tariff barriers have been removed.

Source: ISED announcement, October 23, 2026.

Editorial illustration of aluminum billets and industrial modernization; not a photograph of either funded project.