Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
My name is Kelly Levis. I'm vice president of industrial products at CN. With me today is Chris Cariglia, director of marketing for industrial products.
We welcome this opportunity to discuss the critical role of logistics in promoting Canada's emerging critical minerals sector. These minerals, such as lithium, nickel and copper, as well as rare earth elements, are essential to modern technologies, economic growth and national security. Yet their supply chain remains vulnerable to disruptions, especially in remote areas with limited infrastructure.
CN actively engages with mining companies and shippers early in their development cycles to ensure we can support the movement of ores and concentrates as soon as they come out of the ground. We've identified over 50 mine projects across Canada and the U.S. Midwest, with major volume potential in northern Quebec, northern Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, Michigan and Minnesota. Many of these sites are in areas where building real infrastructure would be prohibitively expensive.
To address this, CN is focusing on strategically located transload hubs as key locations across our rail network. Many of these are northernmost points in our network. We are also exploring other sites based on demand and are committed to working with indigenous partners so they can own and operate these facilities, ensuring inclusive economic development. These hubs enable truck-to-rail transfers, bridging the gap between remote mines and the national transportation rail grid.
Port access and storage are also critical. While Canada's domestic market has growing demand for these minerals, North American processing capacity for less traditional raw materials like spodumene is still developing. In the interim, access to international markets is essential. Our logistics model supports movement from mine to rail to storage, then break-bulk shipping via global ports, such as Halifax, Montreal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Vancouver and, in the future, Prince Rupert.
From a policy perspective, there are several areas where government support could accelerate progress.
The first is railcar manufacturing incentives. Nearly all ore and concentrate move in privately owned cars. There's an opportunity for government to support mining companies in the sourcing of railcars built in Canada using Canadian steel, strengthening both the mining and manufacturing sectors.
Streamlined mine approvals would be the second area. Streamlining or simplifying regulatory approvals would help bring projects online more quickly, allowing Canada to capitalize on its resource potential while maintaining higher environmental and community standards.
The third is strengthening Canada's labour frameworks. Canada's labour relations climate is increasingly unstable, threatening national productivity. Strikes in critical transportation sectors—marine, rail and aviation—have severely impacted supply chain reliability. These disruptions slow the movement of goods, undermining Canada's ability to maintain a productive economy and meet global trade demands, as well as its credibility as a global trading partner. A modern framework that includes effective enforcement and real incentives for timely resolution is essential to safeguarding Canada's economy while maintaining fair labour relations.
On top of this issue, there have been unintended consequences of labour regulations, like the stacking of sick leave and personal leave benefits, and duty and rest-period rules. These have seriously reduced employee availability and forced CN to hire 350 to 400 additional employees. If we want to grow our economy, we need to address these by-products of policy decisions.
CN currently transports over 41,000 carloads of critical minerals annually. By 2032, we project the potential for significantly more volume, which could represent 15,000 to 25,000 additional carloads of emerging minerals like lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements, as well as new sources of copper and nickel. We're evolving our equipment and services to meet this equally evolving demand from raw materials to future battery chemicals. We're also developing new solutions like Rotainers on flatcars and expanding our use of covered hoppers, gondolas and bulk containers to handle products at various stages of refinement.
In closing, CN is committed to being a reliable and innovative partner in Canada's critical minerals strategy. With coordinated planning, infrastructure investment and strong collaboration among industry, indigenous communities and government, we can build a resilient supply chain that positions Canada as a global leader in the energy transition.
Thank you. We welcome your questions.