Amid Prime Minister Mark Carney’s calls that the Canada-U.S. relationship is ruptured, Ottawa has committed $175 million to a mining project in northern Quebec whose major U.S. investor is closely linked to the Trump administration.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson says the Carney government’s support for the rare earth mine is necessary to protect Canadian jobs and the economy.

"We're doing things that are exceptional because we are in exceptional times," Hodgson told the fifth estate in an interview.

"I'll go back to what the prime minister said: We are in a hinge moment. We are in a rupture. We need to respond to that."

What makes the Strange Lake deposit so enticing to governments and private investors is the presence of heavy rare earth elements, most notably dysprosium and terbium, which are key to the magnets used in everything from electric vehicles to fighter jets and missiles.