Evidence of meeting #127 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was north.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
We paid everything on our own.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
You're flying employees in and out from Quebec. We've talked about the issues—and I'm going to get to you in a moment—with the runways. It's a big issue in Baker Lake. Can you talk about that?
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
Do you mean about the runways?
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Yes, the runways. Sometimes you're coming in twice a week.
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
We have, in fact, 10 planes a week going to Nunavut from Montreal and Abitibi. Five of them are going to Meadowbank and five of them are going to Meliadine. We are using the municipality airport at Rankin, but we have our own airport at Meadowbank.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Are you exempt from the carbon tax? You mentioned emissions equal to 75,000 cars per year that you're trying to keep out. With the carbon tax, we're hearing the big emitters are going to be exempt. Are you one of the companies that will be exempt?
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
It's not all fixed yet, but we haven't heard anything about the exemption right now. On the electricity side, it looks clearer now. The base was going to be done using a genset with LNG, which we cannot use, because logistically you cannot bring LNG up north. We're going to pay for electricity beyond what we could do with the LNG genset.
As for the mobile equipment, this is still a discussion in the wings. That one is not clear.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
I know you've talked about windmills and you've talked about everything, but the caribou could be affected, right?
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
That needs to go through the process—
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
We are used to those types of processes. That is going to take time. We already started the environmental assessment. As we look to build those towers close to our project, almost all the environmental assessments have been done. We need to go through consultation, as with other projects.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
I'm amazed at how quickly you have built that mine.
Vice-President, Corporate Branch, Nunavut, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited
It is something special.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
It's one to see. I would recommend to everyone here, if you ever have time, to go to Nunavut to see it.
I saw first-hand that the length of the runways was an issue. You've hit everything that I saw on inadequate runways. Planes that are supposed to get to Arviat, Whale Cove or Chesterfield Inlet don't arrive. Surprise, surprise, right? It's a big issue up there. It's a big issue when they need these planes to come in with materials. Could you comment on that situation? I saw first-hand that two planes didn't come in the day that I was at Chesterfield Inlet.
Executive Director, Northern Air Transport Association
It's a daily thing. There are 117 airports north of 60°. Only 10 are paved, and out of those 10, only five are well paved. The other five need to be repaved, so it's a big issue.
There are solutions out there. We have a project under way right now in which we're starting a test of alternate runway surfaces, but that's a big project. That's a long way down the road for an aluminum surface, just to share with you one large project.
Since the infrastructure is now also being affected by climate change, we have to look for other solutions as well for these runways. One of the biggest problems is, of course, the damage that it's causing to the airplanes. Whatever airplanes are being used by these mines, they're all 35 years old if they're using jets. There's only one jet, a Boeing 737-200, that can land on gravel runways, so it's a problem.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Mr. Marshall, to you for MAC, Agnico has deep pockets, maybe the deepest pockets up north. What are you going to do for the little miners that want to invest up there? What infrastructure do they need to compete?
Vice-President, Economic and Northern Affairs, Mining Association of Canada
There are a number of opportunities. Agnico is a senior, mature company with a lot of operations. TMAC has a single gold mine operation that just began production last year. It is quite fortunate that it's proximate to tidewater. If it were not the case, they might not be operating today.
Infrastructure is really the key to bringing down the upfront capital costs of mining in the north. If we use Agnico Eagle as a case study, it has a 3,400-kilometre security-of-energy supply chain. Ships leave Becancour, Quebec, and sail around Newfoundland to Hudson Bay. The mine built a floating port, a tank farm, and 200 kilometres of road just to be able to then actually build the mine site. Ten years in, they haven't made any money.
That's a remarkable thing that should not be lost on the group of people sitting around this table. How many companies are willing to do that, to create wealth for the benefit of others while not actually generating a benefit for themselves? That is a very remarkable situation.
Vice-President, Economic and Northern Affairs, Mining Association of Canada
What can we do to turn other companies, small companies, into the next generation of Agnico Eagles? We need to bring those projects into a space of economic viability. The single largest thing that can be done to achieve that is to reduce the infrastructure deficit. If we don't, we will continue to see high-value, low-volume commodities in the north, and that is all. We will not see base metals developed.
Conservative
Vice-President, Economic and Northern Affairs, Mining Association of Canada
We will not see these types of projects move forward.
Conservative
Vice-President, Economic and Northern Affairs, Mining Association of Canada
Carbon pricing is a unique circumstance in the north. MAC has consistently called for northern recognition with respect to carbon pricing.
As an association, we support carbon pricing as the most effective means of reducing carbon by giving firms the maximum level of flexibility, but you need to have a behaviour that you can switch to. If you put a price on carbon but there is no place for that price signal to transition towards and no fuel on which to diversify, then there's going to be a limited effectiveness to it. We recognize that. We're hopeful the decision-makers will recognize that.
It's like I said with respect to the Arctic Research Infrastructure Fund: The north is unique, so you need unique policy situations to deal with that reality. It's the same with carbon pricing, it's the same with infrastructure, and it's the same with almost any other policy consideration that you can think of. We cannot continue to map “south of 60” solutions onto the north and expect to have the same outcomes. It hasn't worked historically and it won't work in the future.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank all of you for being here with us today.
One of the things we've heard several times during the study is the need for housing. Could I give each of you a few moments to talk about the impact the lack of housing is having on the work that you do?
Can I start with you?
