Mr. Speaker, Canada is working with allies around the world to develop secure critical minerals value chains. Collaboration with the United States on critical minerals has been driven by the Canada-U.S. joint action plan on critical minerals, finalized in January 2020 and renewed in 2021. Collaboration between Canada and the United States on mineral and metal supply chains extends beyond this given integrated supply chains. For example, in 2021 alone, there was over $94 billion U.S. in two-way minerals and metals trade between the two countries. It is in this context that the government shares information on Canada’s mining sector with allies.
Canada has long been a trusted defence and security partner of the United States. Since its reactivation in 1985, the Defence Production Act, or DPA, Title III program recognizes this partnership, enables investments in Canadian projects and includes Canada as a domestic source for the purposes of the DPA Title III program. Information on company meetings that are being held with the DPA Title III program may involve sensitive commercial, scientific or technical information and represent potential contractual negotiations between third parties.
The development of critical mineral projects and supply chains is a key priority for Canada. This is reflected through the announcement of $3.8 billion in budget 2022 to implement Canada’s first critical minerals strategy. For more information on Canada’s critical minerals projects, visit the interactive map on NRCan’s website at https://atlas.gc.ca/critical-minerals/en/. Released on December 9, Canada’s critical minerals strategy, which can be found at https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html, will advance the development of critical minerals value chains at home and abroad.