The global system of power, control and extraction is being rebuilt.
I track who owns the resources, who controls the deal, and what actors refuse to trade away.
Ottawa, Canada · English · Français · Political science · Communication · Mining economics
Whose sovereignty is affected?
Every deal over a resource is a deal over who gets to decide. So I ask whose sovereignty is affected, and in which direction.
Five areas of analysis
Individuals
Who owns your money, your data, your identity, your entertainment and your ability to say no? Personal sovereignty is a stack you either own or rent.
Communities
Towns, workers and regions. Does the value stay with the people who create it, or does it leave with someone else?
Indigenous Nations
Nations sitting on the corridors the build-out needs. More and more they’re the acquirer at the table, setting terms instead of signing them.
Countries
The old order is coming apart, and every country is moving to maximize its own sovereignty on the way through. The question is what each one will trade to get there, and what it won’t.
Blocs
The EU exports rules. The US exports platforms. China exports processing. Everyone else picks a lane or builds their own. At what cost?
Why resources?
The mine isn’t the asset. The refinery is.
Sovereignty gets decided in physical things. Minerals, oil, water, land, food, compute, labour. Whoever converts the resource controls the deal, and whoever writes the rules controls the conversion.
The physical build and the rules wrapped around it are one project, moving on one timeline. I cover both, because covering one thread at a time is how you miss all the possible moves on the chessboard.
THE BOARD
What I'm watching
Open files, not written yet. Each one is a sovereignty question still being decided.
Next on the clock
China’s rare-earth pause
Beijing paused its extraterritorial rare-earth rules. Does the pause extend, come back for some elements, or snap back in full?
Nov 10, 2026
Flood insurance
About 1.5 million high-risk homes have no flood cover, and at least one bank is refusing mortgages in the worst zones. Does Ottawa backstop it?
Federal Budget, Nov 2026
Hydro-Québec’s data centre rate
The hydro surplus is gone. Do data centres pay double, or keep the old rate?
Régie de l’énergie, Dec 2026
See all 12 files
On a timer
Belarus potash
Washington lifted the sanctions. Brussels didn’t. Does Lithuania’s port reopen to potash?
EU sanctions expire Feb 28, 2027
Nunavut takes the pen
Land and resources move to Nunavut, but the mines sit on Inuit-owned land. Who gets paid, and who gates permits?
Devolution, Apr 1, 2027
The enrichment cliff
Russia still enriches about a quarter of US reactor fuel. The waivers end before anyone else can replace it. Extend or cut?
Jan 1, 2028
Courts & consent
Treaty 9 vs the fast track
Nine nations want the federal and Ontario fast-track laws struck down. Does an injunction land before a project is designated on their land?
Ontario Superior Court
Treaty annuities as rent
Courts are pricing $4 treaty annuities as a share of resource wealth. Does the $3.6 billion award hold on appeal?
Ontario Court of Appeal
The reindeer route
The EU fast-tracks Sweden’s biggest rare-earth project, but it sits on the Sámi’s last reindeer route. Which one wins?
Swedish mining concession decision
Decisions due
Baffinland’s sale
Mary River is in creditor protection with a federal Crown lender. Who picks the buyer, and does the icebreaker route go with it?
Court ruling on the sale process
India’s magnet plants
India is picking five rare-earth magnet makers. Who wins, and where does their oxide come from?
Award of the five plants
The Defence Investment Agency
Bill C-40 makes it a Crown corporation that can build, buy and invest. Real money and authority, or a new org chart?
C-40 in Parliament
Building Politics
Long-form conversations with the people building, governing and contesting what comes next. Operators, officials, researchers and the people living inside the decisions.
Episode 02 · Regional Municipal Politics and the Passion That Powers Change
With Maleeha Shahid, Regional Councillor, Whitby
LATEST WORK BY ISAAC ASHTON
The Architecture of Defensive Hegemony
Tariffs on allies and force on rivals read as one strategy. Part one of six.
Blocs · Sep 2026 · Read →
Canada’s Hidden Nickel Choke Point
One of the West’s two carbonyl nickel refineries, and Canada’s own export controls can’t see its output.
Minerals · Aug 2026 · Read →
The Sovereignty of the Fighter Jet
Buying the plane is easy. Owning the code that flies it is the real procurement decision.
Defence · Jul 2026 · Read →
Alberta Separation, Resources and the Arctic Buildout
The separation argument is about who keeps the money from the last cycle.
Canada · Jul 2026 · Read →
Zimbabwe: The Ban Is Real. The Sovereignty Isn’t.
The processing investment came before the ban. Alignment dressed as sovereignty.
Africa · Jun 2026 · Read →
Canada Must Build the Refinery
Paper position is not industrial position.
Minerals · May 2026 · Read →
“Legitimacy does not produce leverage. Leverage produces legitimacy.”
– Isaac Ashton
“The constant happiness is curiosity.”
– Alice Munro, Nobel Prize-winning author
What I deliver
All work available in English and French.
Sovereignty briefs
Analysis
A short read for a decision-maker: who holds the leverage, what it means for you, what to watch next.
Sovereignty Watch
Analysis
One region or one file, tracked for you. A brief every month on what moved and whose sovereignty it touched.
Power mapping
Analysis
Who actually controls a project or a deal. Governments, nations, financiers, buyers, and where each one’s leverage sits.
Project sovereignty risk
Analysis
The non-technical risks that move timelines and capital on resource, energy and infrastructure projects.
Indigenous nation & community briefings
Analysis
Leverage and deal-landscape reads for nations and communities sitting on the corridors the build-out needs.
Commissioned research
Analysis
Country, sector and supply-chain research built to your question.
Speaking & moderation
Voice
Panels, classrooms and conferences. Built on hosting Building Politics.
Op-eds & ghostwriting
Voice
Researched opinion pieces and thought leadership on resources, power and sovereignty.
Investor sovereignty screens
Analysis
Before you put money into a resource name: who can stop it, who can tax it, who can take it.
Meet Isaac
Isaac Ashton is a Canadian resource and sovereignty analyst and the host of Building Politics. He writes on who controls the things the next economy runs on, and what happens to the people standing on top of them.
He works in English and French, trained in political science, communication and mining economics at the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto. He built his own AI research desk so one analyst can cover the whole board, from the mine to the treaty table.
The old order is coming apart and the new one isn’t built yet. He works in the gap between them.
No camp and no agenda. Just one question, run the same way for everyone: whose sovereignty is affected?
Where it’s going: The Norway Playbook. What Norway did with oil, and what Canada could do with its minerals and its Arctic. A blueprint, not a prediction.
Meet Isaac …
Born in 2005, Isaac is a driven student-athlete and community leader. A graduate of Donald A. Wilson Secondary School, he balanced academics, athletics, and leadership with distinction to earn a place on the Honour Roll and securing my DELF B2 French Certificate.
On the ice, he excelled as a goaltender in rep minor hockey, leading his team to an International Silver Stick championship. Away from the rink, he was equally versatile, competing in soccer and helping his high school team qualify for OFSAA in his senior year.
Beyond sports, Isaac has been inspired to help give back. As Co-Chair of Donald A. Wilson’s Relay for Life committee, he helped raise over $150,000 in support of Canadians affected by cancer. He also spent time as a volunteer for a local political candidate during the 2021 Federal election.
Now a student at the University of Ottawa, Isaac continues to combine hard work and heart—putting himself through school while building hands-on experience in customer service at several different hospitality locations.
He holds both Smart Serve and Food Handler certifications and brings a strong mix of discipline, initiative, and teamwork to everything he does.
Contact
Bring me a question about who controls what.
Research, briefs, a seat on the show, or a conversation.