The Buy Canadian Policy Now Covers $5 Million Contracts. If You Supply an OEM, This Affects You Too.
- Since June 15, 2026, the Canadian content scoring rules apply to procurements worth $5 million or more, not just the original $25 million.
- Bids from qualifying Canadian suppliers get a 10% price reduction in evaluation, and Canadian content can be worth up to 25% of the total score.
- A "Canadian supplier" just needs a permanent, identifiable place of business in Canada. There's no minimum Canadian ownership or headcount in the federal definition.
- If your customer is chasing a Canadian content score, your sourcing choices become part of their paperwork.
- None of this replaces good procurement counsel. Treat this as a starting point, not a compliance opinion.
We've had a few customers ask lately whether their federal or provincial customers are going to start asking harder questions about where components come from. Short answer: some already are. The Buy Canadian Policy has been building momentum since it rolled out last December, and the scope keeps widening.
Here's what's actually in it, and where a magnet supplier fits into the picture.
What changed, and when
The Policy on Prioritizing Canadian Suppliers and Canadian Content in Strategic Federal Procurement took effect December 16, 2025. It doesn't shut foreign suppliers out. It just weights the scoring in favour of Canadian ones.
That threshold drop is the part worth paying attention to. When the policy launched, it only touched procurements of $25 million or more, which is a small club. Dropping it to $5 million pulls in a much wider set of contracts across defence, health, infrastructure, ICT, and consumer and industrial goods. Motors, sensors, medical devices and electronics all live in that last category, and magnets are usually somewhere inside them.
You don't have to sell to Ottawa for this to matter
This is the part that gets missed. Most manufacturers reading this aren't submitting bids to the federal government themselves. Their customer is. And if that customer needs a strong Canadian content score to win, they're going to start looking harder at their own supplier list, including whoever supplies their magnets.
So the practical question for an OEM isn't "does Ottawa buy from us." It's "does our sourcing help or hurt the customers who do sell to Ottawa."
Who actually counts as a "Canadian supplier"
This is a lower bar than a lot of people assume. Under the policy, a Canadian supplier is one with a place of business in Canada that operates on a permanent basis, is identifiable by name, and is accessible during normal business hours. There's no minimum Canadian ownership stake and no minimum headcount written into the federal definition.
A permanent Canadian warehouse and support team can be enough to meet the supplier definition. That's different from meeting a Canadian content requirement, which is about where the goods themselves were made or processed. Bids sometimes ask for one, the other, or both, so it's worth reading the actual solicitation rather than assuming.
Two sourcing risks are colliding right now
Buy Canadian isn't happening in isolation. At the same time procurement scoring is tilting toward domestic suppliers, China's export licensing on rare earth elements, the regime that's been in force since April 2025, hasn't gone anywhere. A wider round of controls was suspended, but only until November 10, 2026. Procurement officers and OEMs alike have started asking about single-source, offshore magnet supply as a documented risk, not a hypothetical one.
Put those two pressures together and the case for a magnet supplier with permanent Canadian inventory and support gets stronger from two directions at once, not just one.
What this looks like for magnet sourcing specifically
| Factor | Offshore, direct-import sourcing | Canadian-warehoused supplier |
|---|---|---|
| Supports customer's Canadian content story | Usually doesn't | Can, depending on the bid's requirements |
| Exposure to export licensing delays | Direct | Buffered by existing local stock |
| Lead time on reorders | Weeks, cross-border | Typically faster, domestic shipping |
| Documentation for attestations | Often has to be requested per order | Usually on file already |
Magfine operates a Canadian distribution centre carrying thousands of neodymium, ceramic, alnico and samarium cobalt magnet types, with custom engineering support for non-standard sizes and RoHS/REACH documentation ready to go. That's the kind of paper trail these attestations tend to ask for.
What we'd suggest doing
- Ask your customers directly whether Canadian content scoring affects the bids they're chasing. Some will tell you plainly.
- Get supplier documentation in order now, rather than scrambling when a bid deadline hits.
- Know which of your components are single-sourced offshore, and flag the ones that would be hardest to swap out under time pressure.
- Confirm requirements against the actual solicitation before attesting to anything. "Canadian supplier" and "Canadian content" aren't the same test.
Non-compliance on a federal bid can mean liquidated damages, withheld payments, or disqualification from future procurements. If your customer is relying on your sourcing to support their attestation, get it right the first time.
Sourcing Magnets for a Canadian-Content Bid?
Magfine keeps neodymium, ceramic, alnico and samarium cobalt magnets in stock in Canada, with documentation ready when your customer needs it.
Talk to Magfine's Sales TeamFrequently Asked Questions
Does the Buy Canadian Policy cover magnets specifically?
Not by name. Magnets fall under the broader "consumer and industrial goods and materials" and ICT categories the policy covers, once a procurement clears the $5 million threshold that took effect June 15, 2026.
My company doesn't sell to the federal government. Why does this matter to us?
If any of your customers bid on federal contracts, your components can factor into their Canadian content score. Their compliance work becomes partly dependent on your sourcing choices.
Does buying from a Canadian distributor automatically satisfy Canadian content rules?
No. Meeting the "Canadian supplier" definition (a permanent Canadian place of business) is a separate test from Canadian content, which usually looks at where the goods were made or processed. Check what the specific bid actually requires.
What happens if a Canadian content attestation turns out to be wrong?
Consequences can include liquidated damages, withheld payments, or disqualification from future procurements. This is a good area to loop in procurement counsel rather than guess.
Is this article legal advice?
No. It's a sourcing overview based on publicly available policy documents. Confirm requirements against CanadaBuys or your own legal and procurement advisors before relying on anything here for an actual bid.
This article is general information, not legal or procurement advice. Requirements can change. Check CanadaBuys.canada.ca or a qualified advisor before relying on this for an actual bid.
