CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Kevin West, Andrea Hill, Priya Ratti and Gabriel Potkidis, SkyLaw
• Geopolitical instability, trade disruptions and the war in Iran are contributing to volatility across energy markets, supply chains, and trade flows. • The Canadian government continues to diversify trade relationships to attract increased foreign investment from jurisdictions beyond the United States. 1.3 Key Industries Technology, Artificial Intelligence & Digital Infrastructure Canada is a leading developer of AI talent and tech - nologies and is expected to foster robust M&A activity involving all players along the AI value chain. Increased demand for technology is fuelling growth in data centres, semiconductors and critical miner - als. This, in turn, is driving investment and acquisition activity in Canada to capitalise on government funding and preserve data sovereignty. The investment by governments and AI companies in data centres will represent one of the most significant infrastructure investments in Canada’s technology sector. For example, the Canadian government is actively exploring large-scale infrastructure projects to build commercial AI data centres in Canada and has dedi - cated over CAD1 billion in the next five years to AI infrastructure. Microsoft has committed to investing CAD7.5 billion to build digital and AI infrastructure in Canada with a goal of protecting the nation’s digital sovereignty. Bell Canada announced the launch of six AI data centres in British Columbia, creating a data centre supercluster which will be one of the largest compute projects in the country. M&A activity will ramp up with the speed and scale required to meet the nation’s AI goals. In early 2025, the government finalised its investment in Toronto- based Cohere Inc’s CAD725 million project to scale AI capabilities in Canada. Canada has access to significant hydroelectric and other clean energy sources, and its naturally colder climate reduces cooling costs. Canada is therefore
uniquely positioned to meet the world’s enormous demand for data centres. Defence 2025 and 2026 marks a generationally significant defence-sector capital investment in Canada. Defence expenditures are projected to exceed CAD1 trillion over the coming decade. To facilitate its defence procurement plan, the fed - eral government in the fall of 2025 inaugurated the Defence Investment Agency and announced its first eight projects. Meeting the investment demands in this sector will require increased domestic consolidation, alongside a greater focus by defence companies on creating or acquiring dual‑use technologies with commercial and defence applications. Mining Approximately 40% of all publicly traded mining com - panies in the world are listed on a Canadian stock exchange. In October 2025, CNSC Global Markets Inc, the parent company of the Canadian Stock Exchange acquired NSX Limited (the owner of the National Securities Exchange of Australia), allowing issuers in the mining space to consider dual-listing opportunities. The mining and metals sector continued to drive sig - nificant M&A activity in 2025. Notable transactions included First Majestic Silver Corp’s USD970-million acquisition of Gatos Silver, which closed in early 2025, as well as Dundee Precious Metals’ USD1.25-billion acquisition of Adriatic Metals, which closed in Sep - tember 2025. Sector consolidation has also continued among exploration companies, including Noble Mineral Exploration and Canada Nickel Company’s comple - tion of the spin‑out and consolidation of their Timmins nickel assets into East Timmins Nickel Ltd in 2025, of which Canada Nickel holds an 80% interest and Noble retains 20%. Historically high gold prices have also been a key driver of mining consolidation and capital markets
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