The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that government has made moves toward the green transition, most recently with the $13-billion subsidy for the St. Thomas, Ont., Volkswagen electric-vehicle battery plant. Guest columnists led by Giancarlo Da-Re write, however, less than a month after that subsidy's price tag was revealed, news emerged that Ottawa is under pressure to match it for Stellantis and LG Energy Solution's Windsor, Ont., battery plant. For all their hefty price tags, there is a key ingredient missing from these subsidies. So far, the investment in Volkswagen's EV battery plant was more than three times the entire amount dedicated to Canada's critical minerals strategy, which focuses on sourcing the raw materials for making those batteries. Canada has them in abundance, but has been slow to build the mines and processing plants. The gap in investment is greatest in the mid-stream, or processing of battery materials, which is the part of the supply chain most dominated by China. It was thus disappointing to hear that Vital Energy's pilot processing project in Saskatchewan was put on hold last month due to the inability to source commercially viable supplies from the Northwest Territories.