Evidence of meeting #25 for National Defence in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was projects.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Apologies, Mr. Lester, sometimes you get forgotten when you're online. I appreciate your reminder about the additional costs of operating in the north.
You mentioned that it takes up to 14 years to approve projects. Could you give some specific steps that you'd like to see to speed up this ridiculous length of time to get projects approved?
General Manager, Nunavut, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
Right now, because of the co-management regime we have up here, a lot of it is just the back-and-forth system. You have to go to the Nunavut Planning Commission to get a project approved and verified. Then it goes back to the proponent and is submitted to the Nunavut Impact Review Board to do the environmental assessment. You get your water licence and all that [Technical difficulty—Editor].
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
We seem to have lost him. I appreciate that he's describing multiple layers of confusing bureaucracy.
I'd like to move to Mr. Gaulin while we're re-establishing communication.
You said that we're providing nickel by the tonnes for navy and Coast Guard ships under construction. Are we going to be—
February 23rd, 2026 / 12:15 p.m.
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Mr. Chair, perhaps we can ask the witness to finish his answer first.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you. I was moving on because we were waiting to re-establish communication. Certainly his answer is important. I just didn't want to lose valuable time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
No, no, I'll give you the time back.
Mr. Lester, can you speak so that we can hear you?
General Manager, Nunavut, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
Yes. Is it working?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Yes. We just wanted to make sure your audio was still on.
It's back to you, Mr. Kibble.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Mr. Lester, perhaps you could quickly finish your answer on the bureaucracies you're facing up north. Something is causing the 14 years of delays for projects. If it's not bureaucracy, maybe you could quickly explain what it is.
General Manager, Nunavut, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
It's mainly the bureaucracy system for approval processing. You have to do a lot of back-and-forth with the same organizations, making sure [Technical difficulty—Editor] once you receive it back.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you. I hear that.
Mr. Gaulin, will we be providing nickel for our navy ships under construction—you mentioned the tonnes that go into Coast Guard ships—and for our future submarines, or will that be coming from other countries?
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Vale Base Metals
The nickel superalloy that goes into Coast Guard ships is definitely coming from Canada.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Is that also for our navy ships that are under construction right now, and potentially for future submarines?
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Vale Base Metals
In terms of the submarines, I think that's a matter of a request from the selected supplier, but certainly that could be something supplied from within Canada.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you.
As we've identified here today—and I was also at the Munich Security Conference—our allies certainly identify that critical minerals are key for our defence, NATO's defence and global security, and we've identified the need to expedite.
Should we be putting aside our net-zero ideology to get on with our supply chains to protect our country, protect our allies, start building stockpiles and ultimately building western security?
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Vale Base Metals
There was a lot in that question. Is there something you'd like me to focus on specifically?
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
We've identified that this is critical for national security, for global security. We need to get on with this. We're dealing with 14 years of bureaucracy and taxes that are crippling us versus our competitors.
Should we be putting that aside and saying, look, this is a time to get on and start building? Should we be putting this bureaucracy aside, be it net-zero ideology, the taxes, etc.?
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Vale Base Metals
The production and processing of minerals should be job number one for Canada's economy and for its national defence.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Okay, thank you.
Does anyone else want to add to that? You're hesitant, okay.
Mr. Lester.
General Manager, Nunavut, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines
I'm too scared to give this a try now.
No, just simplifying the process or removing it altogether would be great—with the consideration of responsible mining, environmental impacts and all that. The regulatory process is too cumbersome at times, I think, and a little too duplicative at other times.
Conservative
Jeff Kibble Conservative Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the extra time, allowing for the confusion with the communications.
I have a very quick last-minute question. We've heard of predatory pricing from China. Is China an economic or strategic threat to our mining industry? I will open it up to the panel.
Vice-President, Economic Affairs and Climate Change, Mining Association of Canada
My quick answer is yes, in terms of predatory pricing. They're able to flood the market with product, decreasing global prices and making our projects uneconomic to move forward.
Conservative