Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important process.
My name is Brendan Marshall. I'm the vice-president, economic and northern affairs, at the Mining Association of Canada.
MAC is the national voice of Canada's mining and mineral processing industry, representing more than 40 members engaged in exploration, mining, smelting and semi-fabrication across a host of commodities.
Mining is a significant economic driver for Canada. In 2017, direct and indirect industry contributions generated $97 billion in GDP, 634,000 jobs and $97 billion in exports—one-fifth of Canada's total overall value. A consequence of this international reach is the sector's reliance on road, rail, marine and aviation services to both bring product to market and supply operations with critical inputs, including workers, fuel and equipment.
Proportionally, the mining industry is the largest industrial employer of indigenous Canadians. Mining is also the largest private sector driver in Canada's Arctic, where the industry accounts for one in six jobs and 15% to 20% of territorial GDP. In recent years, mining companies have invested, are investing, or have committed to invest more than $9 billion in the region.
The CTLS, Canadian transportation and logistics strategy, comes at a critical time. Domestic legislative and regulatory processes with implications for project permitting and costs persist, while recent supply chain failures have significantly damaged Canada's reputation as a reliable trade partner.
The impact of this uncertainty has been felt by Canada's mining industry, where investment has dropped more than 50%, or $68 billion, since 2014. This drop is amidst a strong price rebound for many commodities over the last three years.
As the government seeks to bolster Canada's economic competitiveness, enhancing trade-enabling infrastructure to diversify market access and rebalancing the relationship between Canada's railways and their customers will be critical for success.
I have two recommendations.
The first is to address the remote and northern infrastructure deficit.
The future of Canada's mining industry lies increasingly in remote and northern regions. One of the largest factors influencing mineral investment decisions in Canada's north is heightened costs. Industry research in the “Levelling the Playing Field” report indicates that it costs two to two and a half times more to build the same base or precious metal mine off-grid in the north—