Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 15th, 2021

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I request a government response to a critical mineral study from 43-2. I move:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study of Critical Minerals and Associated Value Chains in Canada; that the evidence and documentation received by the committee during the 2nd Session of the 43rd Parliament on the subject be taken into consideration by the committee in the current session; that the committee adopt the report entitled “From Mineral Exploration to Advanced Manufacturing: Developing Value Chains for Critical Minerals in Canada” adopted during the 2nd Session of the 43rd Parliament and tabled in the House of Commons on June 17, 2021; that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request the government to table a comprehensive response to the report.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Is there any discussion?

I didn't see who was first.

Monsieur Simard.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I am not sure I understand my colleague's motion. Does he want to return to the study we already did? Is that the idea behind his motion?

We have already conducted a study on critical minerals here, so I am not sure I completely understand his motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

I'm sorry. The interpretation cut out after the first part of the question. I'm just wondering if the translation is coming through.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

I want to know what he is proposing in his motion.

Does he want to redo the study we have already done on critical minerals?

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Mr. Chahal, I don't know if you want to speak to that, to explain the motion, or if everybody needs clarification.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

=Would you like me to respond, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

I believe so, and then we'll go to Mr. Angus and then Mr. Maloney.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Sure. I'm just asking that essentially we readopt the report and get a government response to the work that's been done.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Thank you.

Mr. Angus.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

My understanding is that the report was done and we did not get a response, so we need to bring it back to committee and then ask for the government response.

Critical minerals are essential. There's a massive, worldwide geopolitical struggle going on, particularly with China. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and all over the world we have horrific human rights abuses taking place in the search for critical minerals, yet, here in Canada we have the opportunity to mine those minerals in an environmentally safe manner with proper health and safety standards and with agreements with indigenous communities.

I certainly speak for my region. I live in a town called Cobalt, which is a critical mineral. Our industries are very much focused on this and on the potential of getting us to near zero through the use of battery technology. These important minerals would be much better mined in Canada than in some other jurisdictions where the rule of law is very suspect.

I applaud the committee for the excellent work they did under Mr. Maloney. I followed a lot of the committee's work, and I think it would be a complete waste if we did not get a response from the government. I'm more than willing to vote to have that study brought in. If we have to resurrect it, we can then ask for a response to it to be sent to our committee and then our committee can look at the government's recommendations. I'm ready to vote on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Thank you, Mr. Angus.

Mr. Maloney.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

I'm not going to repeat it. I was going to respond to Mr. Simard.

Thank you, Mr. Angus, for your comments.

Mr. Simard, this is the report we did. You're quite right. We finished it. It was tabled in the House, and there wasn't time for the government to respond. All we have to do is readopt the report as a committee. We're not doing anything over again. That would give the government an opportunity to respond.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Thank you.

Are we ready to vote on this motion?

Do we want a recorded division?

[An hon. member]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 0)

We're just coming up on 6:20. I appreciate everybody's work.

I'll just make a couple of comments, Mr. Angus.

I do have a question. One of the things from other committees I've been on is that when we started we invited departmental officials to do a briefing. Is this something that would be of interest to this committee as we get up and running?

I'm getting a couple of headshakes, no. We'll just get to work. Okay.

The other thing I was going to say is about the subcommittee. On other committees I was on, such as environment, we asked parties to send in other thoughts or suggestions that they had for motions that could be considered once we got the ones going that had been adopted. I don't know if you want to have anything else in the hopper, or if we just get going with what we have started with today.

I'll reach out to the subcommittee and see if we want to actually have a meeting prior to returning at the end of January, or early February, so that we can hit the ground running, as was stated, to have things lined up. I'm willing to do that work in January to make sure that we're ready to proceed. I will be working with the subcommittee to do that. That offer's there and I will be reaching out after we finish and when we're back in our homes to see what the interest of the subcommittee is to move things forward.

We have Ms. Lapointe. Ms. Rempel Garner is ready to also provide some comments, and then Mr. Angus.

[Viviane LaPointe, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I had a motion that I wanted to present to the committee this evening.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

You have the floor. Please proceed.

[Viviane LaPointe, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

This motion is important for many reasons. Primarily, the work is vital to our forestry sector, and I believe it is incumbent upon us to continue the good work of the previous committee.

The motion reads, regarding a request for a government response to the forestry study from session 43-2:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study of Economic Recovery in the Forestry Sector; that the evidence and documentation received by the committee during the 2nd Session of the 43rd Parliament on the subject be taken into consideration by the committee in the current session; that the committee adopt the report entitled “Economic Recovery in Canada's Forestry Sector: Green and Inclusive” adopted during the 2nd Session of the 43rd Parliament and tabled in the House of Commons on May 25, 2021; that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request the government to table a comprehensive response to the report.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Is there any discussion?

Mr. Angus.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Is this like the last one where a study had been done, and we just need to get the response?

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

Are there any other questions or comments?

We are ready to vote.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 0)

We have Ms. Rempel Garner and Mr. Angus.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'm happy to cede the floor to Mr. Angus and speak after.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Yes, so that we can talk about hitting the ground running, I'm looking for direction on our spending time in January and using the Christmas break to get our witness list together. Can we get that to the subcommittee, so that we can come back with a plan and actually be ready to go, as opposed to letting things drag out?

I'm ready to meet whenever a subcommittee is called by the chair, but I think that we could start looking at witnesses, and then talking about how we see this going. This is something that would be better dealt with at subcommittee, because we may have many common witnesses or we may, by talking, find there are gaps in our common witnesses.

I'm ready to do that, but I'd like to know that we can get that work done in January so we can start this committee work in February, and we're set to go.

[The Chair, Liberal, John Aldag]

I appreciate that offer of support, so thank you.

Ms. Rempel Garner.