Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I want to thank the witnesses for your excellent testimonies today.
I'm the member of Parliament from Labrador, so mining is an old industry for us, but as we look at new mineral development and critical minerals going forward, we're seeing lots of interesting changes and tremendous optimism around where we're going.
My question is for Mr. Kucharski. It pertains to a Reuters article yesterday outlining that the Government of Canada has tightened the rules around foreign takeovers, especially as they relate to our critical mineral supply chain.
A while ago the Minister of Natural Resources announced that there is a list of 31 critical minerals. He mentioned that one of the criteria to be included on that list of critical minerals is that the mineral must be important for Canada's national security.
Can you explain why it would be dangerous for a country—and not particularly a friendly one—to own the supply chain for minerals critical to our national and continental security? I also ask if you could put it in terms of the larger historical context of a continental defence strategy. Could you speak to that a little for our committee today?