First Phosphate is scouring 1,500 square kilometres of land claims in Quebec’s Saguenay region for a key component in lithium iron phosphate batteries. Kent, a former TV journalist, was environment minister under Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper from 2011 to 2013 and has been a First Phosphate director since last month. (The Logic)

Talking point: Kent was the face of Tory policy that acknowledged the threat of climate change while insisting on fighting it only through agreements every major emitter signed onto. Since retiring from Parliament in 2021, Kent has joined a centrist conservative group, and a business opportunity is a business opportunity—as fellow Harper-era minister Julian Fantino also decided when he opened a medical-marijuana company. Lithium iron phosphate batteries could be poised to disrupt the electric vehicle market, after becoming the dominant battery type in EVs produced in China.