Monday, August 18, 2025
General Market Commentary
The Bank of Canada maintained its target for the overnight rate at 2.75% on July 30, 2025. While some elements of American trade policy have started to become more concrete in recent weeks, trade negotiations continue, threats of new sectoral tariffs continue, and U.S. trade actions remain unpredictable, according to the Bank.
While U.S. tariffs have created volatility in global trade, the Bank reports that the global economy has been reasonably resilient. In Canada, U.S. tariffs are disrupting trade but overall, the economy is showing some resilience so far. After robust growth in the first quarter of 2025 due to a pull-forward in exports to get ahead of tariffs, GDP likely declined by about 1.5% in the second quarter. The Bank attributes this contraction mostly due to a sharp reversal in exports following the pull-forward, as well as lower U.S. demand for Canadian goods due to tariffs.
To support the Canadian economy, the Government of Canada has introduced the Building Canada Act as part of Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act. According to Prime Minister Mark Carney, a seasoned economist and environmentalist, Canada needs to use all the tools at its disposal to get major projects built that will deepen trade relationships with reliable partners and create good Canadian jobs. Ministers across the country have agreed on the urgency of building major projects that produce and connect clean and conventional energy, goods and services to markets across Canada and the globe. These include projects for oil pipelines, critical minerals, mines, nuclear energy facilities, and electricity generation and transmission systems that will be backed by billions of dollars of federal investment.
Hot Sector News
This month we’re putting the spotlight on BluMetric Environmental Inc. (TSXV: BLM) , an Ottawa-based environmental consulting and engineering company with expertise across professional and trade disciplines and technologies that provides design, fabrication and delivery of sustainable solutions for environmental and water challenges.
BluMetric has more than 220 employees operating in 10 offices and over 45 years of expertise serving commercial and industrial, military, mining and government clients. Most recently, the firm announced it has signed a contract with Thales Canada, a subsidiary of Thales S.A., to enhance the quality of potable water chemistry and extend the life of shipboard water distribution systems for the Royal Canadian Navy. In the spring, BluMetric signed a new Master Service Agreement for Canada’s Department of National Defence Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Units (ROWPU). This agreement, which replaced an existing one, includes the refurbishment, on-call field service, support, and maintenance, of the ROWPU systems.
The company’s most recently available financial highlights are as follows:
- Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, was $15.9 million compared to $7.1 million for the same period of the prior year and $29.9 million during the first half compared to $15.7 million for the same period of the prior year.
- EBITDA for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, was $0.6 million, compared to $0.4 million in the same quarter of the previous year and $1.9 million during the first half compared to $1.1 million for the same period of the prior year.
- Net cash as at March 31, 2025 was $2.2 million, compared to net debt of $0.2 million at September 30, 2024.
As the CEO since 2018, Scott MacFabe has guided BluMetric through a time of transition, adaptation and growth. He is a hydrogeologist who holds professional hydrogeology and geology accreditations. We engaged MacFabe to comment on the status of the industry and strategic plans for the company.
What is the value proposition for prospective BluMetric investors?
BluMetric delivers innovative WaterTech products and consulting services to Fortune 500 companies, governments, and Indigenous groups by tackling their most challenging environmental problems. We specialize in smaller-scale, decentralized water systems that operate in demanding conditions and tailor customized solutions for built and natural environments. Unlike other firms, our advantage is our unique consulting and fabrication expertise, which we use to assess, design and implement a complete solution.
How would you estimate the size of the cleantech/watertech market in Canada?
For Canada, our WaterTech products are mainly deployed with the Canadian military for both land and ship-based systems. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how large the market is; however, we signed an initial $11.7 million contract with Rheinmetall Canada in 2023, which was expanded in scope, and regularly sign contracts in the million-dollar range with potential for even larger. We believe the market has the potential to grow significantly more with the Canadian government’s new military spending commitments.
How have the tariffs impacted BluMetric and how do you intend to overcome any obstacles?
The impact of tariffs has been minimal as our products sold to the U.S. are manufactured locally in Gainesville, Florida, and we have flexibility in the supply chain with our Canadian manufacturing and Caribbean presence.
What are your plans to grow the business?
We plan to continue expanding our WaterTech business by driving more commercial sales throughout North America and Latin America. This will be coupled with a new initiative to start and grow our O&M base for more recurring revenue. We also aim to expand our professional services into the built environment and other geographies across Canada.
With this in mind, we are adding BluMetric to our Stocks to Watch Index. Today, the trading price of BLM is $1.34.
Stocks to Watch
Here is a list of Canadian cleantech stocks that we are monitoring for this column so far. We are open to suggestions from our advisors and readers.
| Name | Symbol | Price in $CDN July 16525 | Price in $CDN August 15/25 | % Change |
| Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. | AQN | $8.02 | $8.06 | +0.50% |
| Anaergia Inc. | ANRG | $1.36 | $1.38 | +1.47% |
| Ballard Power Systems Inc. | BLDP | $2.55 | $2.76 | +8.24% |
| *BIOREM Inc. | BRM | $2.41 | $2.05 | -14.94% |
| BluMetric Environmental Inc. | BLM | $1.34 | $1.35 | +0.75% |
| Boralex Inc. | BLX | $31.77 | $29.73 | -6.42% |
| *CHAR Technologies Limited | YES | $0.26 | $0.22 | -15.38% |
| Electrovaya Inc. | ELVA | $5.31 | $6.48 | +22.03% |
| Engine No 1 (Transform ETF) | NETZ | $100.94 | $104.54 | +3.57% |
| EverGen Infrastructure Corp. | EVGN | $0.51 | $0.40 | -21.57% |
| Greenlane Renewables Inc. | GRN | $0.95 | $0.14 | -85.26% |
| Li-Cycle Holdings Corp (Glencore PLC as of Aug. 8) | LICY | $0.078 | $11.04 | +14,053.85% |
| Loop Industries | LPEN | $1.72 | $2.14 | +24.42% |
| Northland Power Inc. | NPI | $31.66 | $21.94 | -30.70% |
| Tantalus Systems | GRID | $3.27 | $2.92 | -10.70% |
| *Thermal Energy International Inc. | TMG | $0.17 | $0.15 | -11.76% |
| Westport Fuel Systems Inc. | WPRT | $5.46 | $4.00 | -26.74% |
| Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc. (Abound Energy) | ZAIR | $0.050 | $0.040 | -20.00% |
*The authors of this column own equity. It is not meant to be an endorsement, but simply a statement of this fact.
James Sbrolla is a veteran of the financial and environmental industries. To contact James, click here.
Connie Vitello is editor of Environment Journal. To contact Connie, click here.
To pitch an idea for an upcoming Market Watch column, or to suggest a stock, please contact us.
Featured photos credits: BluMetric and Getty Images
