Natural Resources Committee on Sept. 25th, 2025

[Isabella Chan]

Number one is that, in terms of funding various projects, we have an internal governance structure that brings together the 15 different departments, along with, for instance, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Canada Growth Fund and our export development agency in order to look at projects. That way, when we fund a project, we are coordinated.

To your point about our regulatory work, through our critical minerals centre of excellence, we provide that navigation service to support, and we do note that there is work also under way to look at how we can streamline the provincial, territorial and federal impact assessments. I don't know if my colleagues have anything they want to—

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Our time, unfortunately, has run down, but you can wrap that into another answer to a future question.

Monsieur Simard, please go ahead for two and a half minutes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you. I'm going to ask a fairly quick question, because I want to be able to speak to a motion afterwards.

I wasn't aware of the centre of excellence. How many projects have you supported in recent years?

[Andrew Ghattas, Senior Director, Critical Minerals Centre of Excellence, Department of Natural Resources]

The concierge service acts as a single window for industry. They reach out to us and then we help direct them to the available supports that a particular firm may need, subject to where they are in advancing their project. We help them interface with the appropriate program where their project may qualify. Off the top of my head, I don't have the specific number of firms that we have supported, but it's close to 100-plus.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Thank you.

I think it might be interesting for the committee if you submitted the list of projects that were supported.

There you go. Thank you.

I'm sorry. I'm going to have to move on to the motion that I tabled.

Mr. Chair, Mr. Guay, Mr. Martel and I have done a good job as a team. I don't think we're going to have a long discussion on this.

I don't know if everyone has had a chance to look at the motion. I'll be quick. The motion reads as follows:

That, as part of the study on critical minerals, the committee undertake a parliamentary mission in the week of October 14, 2025, to review the Northern Corridor project and phosphate mining projects, and to visit the Port Saguenay facilities, the Bagotville military base, and the surrounding rail infrastructure. That the committee, during this visit, meets with the Conférence régionale des préfets, the Promotion Saguenay organization, and any other witnesses the committee deems relevant.

That the committee travel to Sudbury that same week to discuss mining projects in Northern Ontario and their transportation needs, and that it meets with any witnesses it deems relevant.

That the committee chair instructs the clerk to prepare the draft mission, including the draft budget, and that the observations made during this mission be added to the report of this study.

As I mentioned, Mr. Chair, I had a discussion beforehand with my colleagues Mr. Guay and Mr. Martel. I think everyone agrees that we need to develop the infrastructure necessary to transport critical minerals. Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean has an opportunity to establish a rail line in the northern corridor that would run all the way to Saguenay. It could be very interesting and relevant for the committee to travel there.

I don't think there's going to be a debate on this. I would like us to adopt this motion quickly so that the clerk can do the rest of the work, including proposing a budget. The deadlines are quite tight, since we are aiming for October 14. There you go.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you, Mr. Simard.

The floor is open for debate.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Madam Clerk, I understand that this goes to the Liaison Committee from here. There's a whole process involved, but we will be transmitting that it had unanimous consent from the committee.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

What a fine consensus!

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Yes. It has unanimous consent.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

The Standing Committee on Natural Resources has always worked this way.

Do I have a little time left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

No, you do not have any time left..

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

We are now on to Mr. Rowe.

Welcome to the committee, Mr. Rowe.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first question today is about the mining sector and our GDP. I'm wondering if you could elaborate on the real change in GDP for Q2 of 2025.

[Isabella Chan]

The mining sector contributed to 6% of Canada's GDP in 2023, but with respect to the specific quarter you mention, we'll coordinate with Statistics Canada and bring our answer back to the committee.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

That's perfect.

In comparing the mining sector GDP and the GDP of the overall country and the overall economy, do you know how it compares and if it's on par with or below what the economy is doing as a whole?

[Isabella Chan]

The mining sector as a whole is definitely a key contributor to Canada's GDP. I would also note that the mining sector includes those mining projects that are beyond critical minerals. I'm thinking of gold and diamonds, which are also part of the mining sector.

I'm happy to work with our Statistics Canada colleagues to provide the information you're seeking.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

I'm being told that the mining sector is actually...that the GDP is reducing by six times greater than what our economy is doing right now. Whether it's entirely true that it's six times, there's still a major concern that the mining sector GDP is decreasing at a higher rate than our economy's is, which is concerning. I'm being told that it's a long time—18 years—to get a mine up and running. I'm wondering how many projects are still stuck in regulations here in Canada.

[Isabella Chan]

That information would be available from our Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.

We can submit that, Chair, to the committee's study.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

As I just mentioned, I'm being told that it takes close to 18 years to get a mine from start to finish here in Canada. I believe some of you have worked with supply chains and global markets.

When things happen in global markets like we've seen in Ukraine with big talk about what's happening about uranium and these big shifts, what are some things that we can put in place to really get our country to compete and adapt to global markets faster than 18 years?

[Isabella Chan]

As I noted earlier, I think one of the initiatives that has already been undertaken is addressing the regulatory permitting. As my colleague Kimberly Lavoie noted, one project for review or substitution is under way with the Province of British Columbia.

I would like to come back to the point that I made earlier that sometimes the challenges in terms of the timeline are not just when it comes to regulatory permitting; they are challenges in raising the necessary capital. As you can imagine, mining projects are very capital intensive, and the price volatility of lithium and rare earth elements is one of the biggest hurdles many of our projects have to face.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

I'm glad you talked about one of the difficulties being raising capital. I worked in the mining industry, and oftentimes mines will close because interest rates go up, taxes go up and there are a lot of barriers.

When the mines do close, it seems to be a common practice—or it's rumoured in the mining industry—that other countries will end up purchasing these mining sites just so that they remain closed and that they purchase rights to those areas to open just long enough and then close them again. Is there anything that the Liberal government is working on right now to prevent that from happening to make sure we don't have foreign interference in our mining industries stunting our growth?

[Isabella Chan]

There is already legislation in place in the Investment Canada Act that allows our colleagues at ISED, formerly Industry Canada, to look at some of these transactions to ensure that they are for the net benefit of our country as well as from the perspective of national security.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

With these programs you say are helping capital, is there an emphasis on allowing Canadians and Canadian companies to participate in the mining industry? Perhaps there are better tax breaks or less capital gains tax for Canadians who want to invest in the mining industry to help raise capital for that.