Mapping ‘top-tier mining jurisdiction’

Ottawa’s Northern and Arctic affairs minister called on Manitoba to present a co-ordinated approach to move new projects forward as the federal government focuses on infrastructure builds and critical minerals development.

Manitoba is among the most “unpredictable” jurisdictions in Canada for regulatory timelines and decision making, Liberal MP Rebecca Chartrand (Churchill–Keewatinook Aski) said Tuesday morning in Winnipeg.

She addressed a crowd of business executives and politicians at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event.

Chartrand said there is interest from local government and the private sector in making Manitoba a “top-tier mining jurisdiction.”

For that to happen, everyone — with an emphasis on First Nations — must partner, Chartrand said.

“I can’t imagine this moving forward without the consent and support of rights holders in the North.”

She highlighted the Indigenous-led Minago Critical Minerals Project and exploratory operations headed by First Nations.

“Economic growth and Indigenous rights are not competing goals,” said Chartrand, the first First Nations woman from Manitoba to serve in a federal Liberal cabinet.

Predictability comes with co-ordination, not fragmented approvals. Northern community issues — such as housing and energy needs — must also be considered when starting new projects, she said.

Manitoba is competing with other provinces for investment and attention.

Ottawa’s Major Projects Office has a task force for a Port of Churchill expansion. It’s created teams for six other potential projects; it hasn’t committed to fast-tracking any.

Moving a project from “referred” to “designated” requires alignment between governments, businesses and First Nations, Chartrand said.

The Manitoba Chambers of Commerce has been meeting with fellow organizations in the province — like the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association and Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce — to discuss increasing advocacy on Parliament Hill.

“Pretty much every organization recognizes that they have a role to play in this,” said Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce.

A “Manitoba day” is among the ideas being pitched, Davidson added.

“Canada is going to be making these investments somewhere, might as well be Manitoba,” said John Gunter, chief executive of Frontiers North Adventures, a tourism business in Churchill.

Still, he’s concerned about the region’s polar bears and beluga whales. Tourism has been a major economic driver in Churchill for decades; it accounts for an estimated $99 million of Manitoba’s GDP annually.

Tourism and a Port of Churchill expansion can both thrive, Gunter believes, if the region’s animals are considered “on the front end of the consultation process and not tacked on to the back end.”

Northern tourism, conservation and job training must be considered alongside new projects, Chartrand said during her Tuesday speech.

Pouring money into the Port of Churchill and its Hudson Bay Railway link without further investments is “not strategic,” Chartrand said, adding there seems to be a “plan that’s evolving in the North.”

She applauded the Manitoba government for proposing a provincial Crown-Indigenous corporation. It would be the first of its kind in Canada. The New Democrats intend to introduce legislation next spring.

Mining companies have increasingly engaged and partnered with First Nations over the past years, said John Morris, co-director of the Mining Association of Manitoba Inc.

The industry is taking a “wait-and-see” approach to Bill C-5, the government’s bill to fast-track major projects.

“We’re just continuing to do our work in collaboration with the provincial government, the federal government, First Nation communities,” Morris said, noting the feds have been criticized for permit challenges.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com