Food affordability has become a national crisis, according to Dalhousie University Agri-Food Analytics Lab Professor Sylvain Charlebois.

“It is really happening across the country,” said Charlebois, who has published a new food safety study that surveyed 9,109 Canadians.

“The findings reveal 58 per cent are more enticed to eat food that would have the best before date either on that day or after,” he said, adding that eating potentially spoiled food to save money is dangerous.

“Take, for example, animal proteins. I would be very careful,” Charlebois warned.

Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, a Halifax community centre, feeds more than 600 peopleeach day at several locations throughout Nova Scotia.

According to Cherry Claxton,the facility’s Chief Operating Officer, many of the people who eat at Souls Harbour often make desperate decisions when it comes to the food they eat.

“If their option is to eat a can of beans that expired four years ago, or to have two dollars to go buy a new one, it’s not an option for them,” said Claxton.

Halifax resident Albert Kinslow regularly consumes food he knows could be unsafe because he has no other choice.

“It is because of my meagre finances and myinability to find affordable food,” said Kinslow.

The study, broken down by age group, asked Canadians if they believed they ate food in the past year – that was on or past its best-before date – that possibly made them sick.

Millennials, born 1980 to 1996: 41 per cent

Generation X, born 1960 to 1980: 24 per cent

Baby Boomers, born 1946 to 64: 20 per cent

Canadians born before 1946: 10 per cent

Generation Z: 10  per cent

Charlebois added when it comes to best before dates and expired food, many Canadians push the boundaries of safety and engage in risky eating habits that could lead to costly medicals bills.

“If you get sick it is going to cost you way more than that cabbage you didn’t throw out,” said Charlebois.

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An electrified world has become increasingly dependent on battery metals, particularly on copper, and BHP is, not surprisingly, eager to secure a leading position in this market. A tie-up would give the mining giant about 10% of global copper production.

It would also boost its presence in the world’s top copper producing countries, Chile and Peru, as with the acquisition of Anglo American, BHP would gain access to four of the world’s largest copper mines — Collahuasi (with ownership of 44%), Los Bronces (50.1%), El Soldado (50.1%) and Quellaveco (60%). This would improve the company’s exposure to copper by about 40%.

BHP’s proposal is valued at £25.08 per Anglo share, a 14% premium to the target company’s closing price on Wednesday. According to analysts, the offer is not as sweet as it seems and they believe Anglo American is well-positioned to push for a better deal.

Given its conglomerate nature, finding a knockout price isn’t a simple task.

“Anglo American is an established conglomerate with a complex structure, featuring numerous partial ownership stakes and various defensive mechanisms, most of which are concentrated in its South African assets,” Jefferies’ Christopher LaFemina wrote in a note to clients.

The analyst believes that “a price of at least £28 per share would be necessary for serious discussions to take place, and a takeout price of well above £30 per share would be the outcome if other bidders were to get involved”.

“If we include our estimate of synergies on an after-tax present value basis, we estimate Anglo fair value to be 2824p per share, which equates to a $42.6 billion equity value. That is 28% above the most recent Anglo share price, and we believe it is a reasonable starting point,” LaFemina wrote.

Anglo American became a takeover target in recent years after output fell and costs mounted.

“It became a potential target for BHP as Anglo continued to post a weak top-line, even as its total debt kept increasing since 2021 as a result of the poor performance of platinum group metals (PGMs) and diamonds due to price fluctuations, geopolitical and economic situations, and other operational constraints,” Sathiya Narayanan Jalapathy, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, wrote in an emailed statement.

“Amidst this, the company has reported growth of 31.5% in copper sales from $5,599 million in 2022 to $7,360 million in 2023 (…) Operationally, the combined entity could have a top line of over $84 billion, EBITDA of over $34 billion, and a workforce of close to 100,000, reinforcing its position as one the largest global players in the mining sector,” he noted.

“The deal would represent the biggest shakeup of the global mining industry in more than a decade,” says James Whiteside, metals and mining research director at Wood Mackenzie. “But Anglo American shareholders may consider fair value closer to the share price in 2023 before operational issues emerged and other suitors may be compelled to act at this price.”

Berenberg analyst Richard Hatch is not convinced that Anglo presents significant turnaround opportunities.

“BHP is potentially buying a group of assets that need some care and attention,” Hatch wrote, referring to Anglo’s operations in South Africa. “This, in our view, offers limited upside at this point with current valuation multiples that would also imply a slightly dilutive deal for BHP.”

According to Fitch Group, BHP is “likely drawn by the company’s low valuation (stock down 12% over the LTM), with the company going through a multi-year operational restructuring. From a strategic standpoint, bigger is always better in the metals and mining sector.”

“Highly opportunistic“

Earlier on Thursday one of Anglo’s 20 largest shareholders, Legal & General Investment Management, said BHP’s approach was “highly opportunistic” and “unattractive”.

“As with many other UK-listed companies, we believe the valuation of Anglo American to be depressed and regard the proposed exchange ratio as an unattractive proposition for long-term investors,” Nick Stansbury, head of climate solutions at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), said in an emailed statement.

“The industry is extremely concentrated today, and further consolidating it will not contribute to accelerating investment in the way we believe is needed,” Stansbury said.

Anglo American did not respond to a request for comments but in a statement it said it was reviewing the proposal, which would require it to separate its majority holdings in South Africa of Anglo American Platinum (JSE: AMS) and Kumba Iron Ore (JSE: KIO) beforehand.

With a focus on the metal key to the energy transition, BHP itself bought copper producer OZ Minerals last year for about $6.4 billion while Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO), the world’s second largest miner, has been investing in copper mines in Utah and Arizona.

Deal under the microscope

BMO Capital analyst Alexander Pearce highlighted that the deal to combine both miners would be subject to significant anti-trust/competition scrutiny, particularly when it comes to the copper assets.

The Anglo-owned Quellaveco and BHP-owned Antamina mines are key to Peru’s economy. If the merger is successful, both operations would be under the same ownership, raising questions of a potential market concentration issue or even a major political concern.

The deal could face government and local opposition due to the scale and influence of the combined company. Depending on the nature of the perceived problem, the antitrust solution may involve selectively selling off parts of the business that are deemed non-essential, in order to address concentration issues, while preserving the core copper assets that both companies view as strategically important. These are the issues in South America.

The issues the merged company could face in South Africa are equally or more difficult. The nation’s minerals resources minister Gwede Mantashe is not a big fan of BHP and has already voiced his opposition to BHP’s bid for Anglo.

Mantashe told the Financial Times that he was not in favour of BHP’s bid given the country’s previous “not positive” experience with the company, referencing the 2001 merger between BHP and Billiton that created the world’s largest mining company.

While he clarified this was his personal opinion and not the government official position on the matter, Mantashe said that BHP Billiton “never did much for South Africa” and led to “capital leaving the country.”

BHP in 2015 created and spinned off South32 (ASX, LON, JSE:S32), a company that inherited the South African assets and operations.Through this demerger, BHP effectively reduced its exposure to the country in a move interpreted as many as its attempt to limit its involvement in the country.

Anglo American, in contrast, embodies the mining tradition of South Africa. Started in the country in 1917, it holds the fourth-largest position in the FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index, accounting for 4.3% of the index.

Anglo has controlling interests in two other mining companies listed on the South African stock exchange — Anglo American Platinum Ltd., also known as Amplats, and Kumba Iron Ore.

The company also owns another South African emblematic company: Diamond giant De Beers, which Anglo acquired more than a decade ago.

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Japanese automaker Honda will make a $15-billion electric vehicle investment in Ontario to build four new manufacturing plants in the province, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday.

According to a government statement released to media in advance of the announcement, the deal will result in “Canada’s first comprehensive electric vehicle supply chain.”

The deal includes the construction of Honda’s first electric vehicle assembly plant and a new stand-alone EV battery plant at Honda’s facility in Alliston, Ont.

“Honda will also build a cathode active material and precursor (CAM/pCAM) processing plant through a joint venture partnership with POSCO Future M Co., Ltd. and a separator plant through a joint venture partnership with Asahi Kasei Corporation,” the statement said. The locations of those plants have not been named.

Once the assembly plant is fully operational in 2028, it will produce up to 240,000 vehicles per year and create more than 1,000 “well-paying manufacturing jobs,” statements from Honda and the federal government said.

Calling it the “largest auto investment in Canada’s history,” Trudeau said Canada’s supply of natural resources helped make the deal possible. He added the country’s greatest assets are its workers, who are “the best in the world.”

Ford called the investment “a game changer for the industry” and a “tremendous win for Ontario.” He said his government is supporting the investment with direct and indirect incentives worth $2.5 billion.

“This is the first time China has been unseated from the top spot” of the global supply chain ranking, Ford said, adding that with the Honda deal, Ontario has now attracted billions of dollars in “auto and EV investment” over the last three years.

WATCH: ‘Historic’ Honda EV investment will boost economy for generations, says Trudeau

‘Historic’ Honda EV investment will boost economy for generations, says Trudeau

6 hours ago

Duration 3:05

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised Honda’s $15-billion EV investment as an example of ‘Canada building the kinds of solutions the world needs’ before taking aim at his rivals, and suggested the announcement would not have happened under a Conservative government.

At the announcement in Alliston, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland touted federal tax credits crafted to attract EV investment in the country.

“Thanks to this EV supply chain investment tax credit, as well as the clean technology manufacturing investment tax credit, Honda and its partners will benefit from upwards of $2.5 billion in support from the federal government,” she said.

Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe told reporters in Alliston that details of his company’s $15-billion investment will be rolled out over the next six months.

“When this project is confirmed, Honda is expected to become the first automaker to utilize the EV supply chain investment tax credit,” he said.

In a media statement, Honda said that in addition to the 1,000 new manufacturing jobs, the deal also secures “the current employment level of 4,200 associates at its two existing manufacturing facilities in Ontario.”

Federal Conservatives slam deal

The federal Conservatives were quick to criticize the deal, saying it sells out Canadian workers and will likely end up using tax dollars to give jobs to foreign replacement workers.

“We have seen before where Justin Trudeau announces massive subsidies that are supposed to create Canadian jobs, only to see him turn around and let those jobs be filled by foreign replacement workers and then lie about it,” said Conservative MP Rick Perkins, his party’s critic for innovation.

“We can’t trust that his latest announcement of $5 billion [which will actually be split between the province and federal governments] in Canadian taxpayer money to another large multinational corporation will be any different.”

When the Ontario and federal governments struck a deal to build an EV battery plant in Windsor, Ont. with NextStar Energy — a partnership between Stellantis and the South Korean company LG Energy Solution — it later emerged that 900 South Koreans are set to come to Windsor during the installation phase of the battery plant’s development.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said that those workers were coming to install specialized proprietary equipment in the plant and would only work at the site for periods of three to 18 months — and would not get permanent jobs.

NextStar Energy has committed to hiring 2,500 Canadians for full-time positions at the plant. As well, approximately 1,600 Canadian tradespeople are expected to be involved in the construction.

Foreign workers

That hasn’t stopped Canada’s Building Trades Union from raising concerns about the use of foreign labour at the company’s Windsor construction site.

Online news outlet iPolitics reported this week that the union has written to Trudeau expressing frustration with NextStar’s use of a few dozen overseas workers to do jobs that previously were promised to Canadians.

The union claimed those workers were doing jobs that could be done by local labourers, such as using forklifts and installing equipment.

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne dismissed those concerns in an interview with CBC Radio’s The House.

He said that with a construction project of this size, it’s normal to bring in outside help.

“Just to put that in perspective, we’re talking about 72 [foreign] workers out of about 2,000 on the construction site today and of the 5,000 jobs that will be created,” Champagne said.

He said he’s stressed to NextStar and Stellantis’s CEO that the vast majority of all jobs tied to the plant should go to Canadians.

Asked if he demanded that Honda prioritize Canadians for all possible jobs associated with this taxpayer-subsidized project, Champagne said “we always have undertakings to maximize Canadian jobs in all that we do.”

In a later interview with CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live, Honda Canada’s president said he’s “very aware of what went on” at NextStar with some jobs going to foreign nationals.

“For sure, this is not something that we want to entertain,” Jean Marc Leclerc said.

Leclerc said he wants to craft some sort of “memorandum of understanding” with Canada’s Building Trades Union and reiterate Honda’s commitment that “Canadians will have these construction jobs.”

Trudeau and Ford present united front

Both Trudeau and Ford dismissed criticism of the $5 billion investment they will share in the Honda deal, saying it will create tens of thousands of spinoff jobs and position Canada at the forefront of the green economy of the future

“The Conservative Party of Canada would have us not make that investment today. They stood against our Volkswagen investment in St. Thomas Ontario, they decried the investment we made with Stellantis in Windsor and they continue to be against governments stepping up to invest in good jobs of the future,” Trudeau said.

The prime minister said that between now and the federal election set for October 2025, Canadians will have a choice between competing priorities — which he described as balancing the budget at all costs or investing in the future.

Showcasing his partnership with Ford, Trudeau said he was “incredibly pleased to be able to be here with a Progressive Conservative like Doug Ford who understands that investing” is how you build a strong economy for decades to come.

Ford said that since his government came to office, 700,000 new jobs have been created in his province “because of the partnerships that we’ve had at all three levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal partners investing in the future.

“This is generational,” Ford said. “This is decades and decades down the road. What price do you put on that? There is no price you can put on that because we are investing into the people.”

• This week Cross Country Checkup wants to know What should the government do to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment? What have you done? Fill out the details on this form and have your say!

The premier said the money being invested is staying in the province and will remain in Canada for generations to come.

Last year, federal and provincial governments announced a number of deals with EV battery producers Northvolt, Volkswagen and Stellantis-LGES.

Governments estimated that investment at $37.7 billion over ten years, with $32.8 billion of that going toward production subsidies and $4.9 billion earmarked to build the facilities.

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