Natural Resources committee  In terms of the environmental assessment process, the lead for the Government of Canada is the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. They are responsible for moving forward with the duty to consult and framing the accommodation. That work is informed by the technical and scientific expertise of other federal government departments, for example, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Natural Resources Canada as an explosives regulator.

Natural Resources committee  The major projects management office is a big part of mining development in Canada. Sometimes as much as 80% of the projects going through the Canadian environmental assessment process are mining projects. In terms of the question on reviews, that's not my direct area of expertise.

Natural Resources committee  I am familiar with the GEM program because it is foundational for mining and energy development in Canada. In terms of the latest updates and evaluations, Mr. Chair, I will need to go back to my colleague to bring that forward. The past evaluations of GEM have shown a leveraging factor of 1:5 in terms of public sector investments stimulating investment by the private sector, as it reduces the risk to exploration.

Natural Resources committee  In the 2016 budget there was an announcement of a review of some of the tax measures. That may very well be done there. As the committee will know, that work is all under the purview of the Minister of Finance, so he would be best positioned to respond to that.

Natural Resources committee  In terms of developing the human capital, Natural Resources Canada has recognized that it has a responsibility to support some of that development, whether it's hiring summer students, geology students, or post-docs in a number of its science programs. One concrete example is the CanmetMining lab.

Natural Resources committee  There's an initiative in which we've partnered with Indigenous and Northern Affairs that is supporting the adoption and development of green mining technologies among first nations communities. That effort is really looking at wanting to support indigenous communities in monitoring the environment, developing baseline data, and doing some of the tracking thereafter with technology.

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Chair, in terms of the question about clusters, the committee may be interested to hear that at CanmetMining, our labs are located in two of the most mining innovation clusters in the country, the first being Sudbury, which has been likened to being the Silicon Valley of mining, and our CanmetMining lab has one location there and is able to partner with MIRARCO and CEMI and Laurentian University.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much for the question, Mr. Chair. To respond to that, it has proven to be very complicated to compare apples to apples with Australia. We have not undertaken or been able to do what you're asking, although it's a good question. The Canada Mining Innovation Council may be a good source of information for that kind of work.

Natural Resources committee  Mr. Chair, I'm not sure that I have a copy of the report the member is referring to, although I am aware of a study by the Ontario Mining Association. The Government of Ontario is looking at that. What may be of interest is some work that we do federally and provincially through the intergovernmental working group on mining.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I greatly appreciate the chance to be here. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you. I will give you a bit of background on the Canadian minerals and metals sector, on some of its challenges, and on the innovation imperative, as I understand the committee's study will focus on innovation in the natural resources sector.