Ottawa backs Manitoba push for critical mineral mining: federal minister

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This article was published 09/08/2022 (1522 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The Trudeau Liberals are praising the Stefanson government for helping launch a process that will guide how Manitoba transitions into green jobs, through mining for electric vehicle components and exporting more hydroelectricity.

“It’s extremely important that we’re able to be clear with Canadians about what the economic future of this country looks like,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the Free Press.

Wilkinson spoke Monday to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce about what’s called regional energy and resource tables.

The idea, launched in June, is to have Ottawa and a provincial government identify three to four areas to target green economic growth, and partner with Indigenous leaders, municipalities and industry to make it happen.

Manitoba is one of the first three provinces to have these tables set up.

“It really is about building place-based economic strategies for Canada, and to ensure that we are seizing the economic opportunities associated with the transition to a low-carbon future,” Wilkinson said Tuesday.

That means thinking beyond wind turbines and household solar panels to a clear vision of what jobs Canadians can fill and what training programs they’ll need.

Wilkinson honed in on Premier Heather Stefanson government’s push for mining, noting lithium deposits at Snow Lake and copper, zinc and nickel elsewhere in Manitoba can help make Canada into the world’s powerhouse for electric vehicle batteries.

“The critical minerals area actually represents a generational opportunity for Canada,” the minister said.

One of the major hindrances is red tape. Wilkinson said it currently takes 12 years to go from identifying a possible mine site in Canada to having it produce.

“If we are going to successfully execute the energy transition, we have to find ways to produce more of these critical minerals in a shorter period of time than that,” he said.

“Part of what these tables are about is essentially finding ways to expedite the approvals and the permitting processes, without cutting corners from an environmental perspective.”

For example, Wilkinson’s department can co-ordinate with the federal environment, industry or economic development departments, to get the ball rolling on projects Ottawa and the province have already flagged as a priority.

“We’re trying to make it simple, sort of (as) one port into the federal government for the provinces, so that we can actually ensure that this is very well co-ordinated.”

The idea is to get Canada not just extracting these minerals, but having the know-how and skills to process them into batteries and eventually electric vehicles.

In recent years, Prairie provinces have castigated the Trudeau government over beefed-up environmental regulations under Bill C-69, which Manitoba argued will delay energy and flood-prevention projects due to onerous upfront requirements.

Wilkinson said the purpose of that legislation was to create clear timelines and anticipate issues early on, instead of having projects held up in court. He said it’s a similar thinking guiding these new energy tables.

“We have to hold ourselves to account, and that’s part of the conversation we are having internally in the federal government, to the timelines that were embedded in that legislation.”

Meanwhile, Wilkinson said Manitoba’s provincial ministers have been “enormously positive” at working with him on issues of climate change and natural resources.

“They have been very focused on ensuring that they are addressing some of the climate issues; they are keen to discuss the economic opportunities,” he said.

“There has been a real focus on Indigenous engagement that I, honestly, did not see before as clearly, which I think is really important in some of these conversations around mining, and those kinds of things.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca