Canada's mining potential is hindered by regulatory delays and missed opportunities, despite vast resources and global industry leadership.
Canada is a world mining superpower, producing some 60 minerals and metals from 200 mines and 6,500 quarries.
We are the world’s biggest producer of potash, and we rank in the top five for gold, indium, niobium, platinum group metals, titanium concentrate, and uranium.
From aluminum to zinc, we extract and process more than 20 of the 34 items on Canada’s list of “critical” minerals and metals.
And up to 75% of the world’s mining companies are headquartered or listed in Canada. Why, then, do we not score better on the Fraser Institute’s annual mining survey and its rankings of mining “investment attractiveness” in worldwide jurisdictions?
Its latest rankings of 86 world jurisdictions show the top place in the world for mining investment attractiveness is Utah, followed by Nevada. Saskatchewan places third out of 86, followed by Western Australia.
Other Canadian rankings: Newfoundland and Labrador 9th, Ontario 10th, Yukon 16th, New Brunswick 23rd, Northwest Territories 24th, British Columbia 25th, Alberta 36th, Nunavut 39th, and Nova Scotia a pathetic 75th out of 86.
A key message: “A sound and predictable regulatory regime coupled with competitive fiscal policies helps make a jurisdiction attractive in the eyes of mining investors.
Policymakers in every province and territory should understand that mineral deposits alone are not enough to attract investment.”
The report adds: “Overall, we see that uncertainty surrounding protected areas, land claims disputes, and environmental regulations continue to hinder mining investment in various Canadian jurisdictions.”
It can take 12 to 15 years before a proposed mine in Canada can get through all the red tape from assorted governments and get into its first production.
Which brings us back to our headline, and Ottawa’s talk and promises.
Jonathan Wilkinson, federal minister of energy and natural resources, announced in March that Canada would soon launch its Action Plan to speed up the mine permitting process. It might, he said, include guidelines about how long the regulatory process should take.
“We actually have to find ways to do things more quickly if we are to have a hope of meeting the targets that we've set for ourselves with respect to reducing carbon emissions," Wilkinson said.
He spoke of better organization and scheduling of regulatory reviews, of reducing redundancy between federal and provincial permitting regimes, and of providing better funding to government agencies to reduce backlogs. He actually suggested his changes might reduce that wait time of 12-15 years to only five years.
All of which is complicated now by the intentions of federal and provincial governments to give Indigenous Peoples a more significant and meaningful role in project approvals.
Ottawa established a ministerial working group on the mining-approvals issue. The model is presumably the same as an earlier ministerial working group set up to look at regulatory efficiency for “clean-growth projects.” It listed critical minerals among its areas of interest, also including clean electricity, hydrogen, biofuels, and nuclear energy.
That working group produced in June an “action plan.” Among other things, it has proposed the creation of a new federal Permitting Coordinator, a Crown Consultation Coordinator to ensure Crown consultation with Indigenous Peoples, and “new targets of five years to complete federal impact assessment and permitting processes, and two years or less for permitting of non-designated projects that do not require a federal impact assessment.”
It promised: “We are proceeding with the implementation of the Action Plan immediately, starting with the upcoming launch of a Cabinet Directive on Clean Growth Projects that will provide more details on the expectations of federal officials.”
In July, Ottawa did announce a new “Cabinet Directive on Regulatory and Permitting Efficiency for Clean Growth Projects.” But it does not carry the same legal weight as a law or regulation and should be viewed as a cabinet-agreed policy.
Sadly, we recall that the last federal cabinet directive designed to get major projects built faster was announced more than 15 years ago—and it still takes forever to get projects approved by Ottawa.
To sum up, Wilkinson promised in March new measures to accelerate the mine-permitting process. Almost six months later, we’re still waiting.
As author Ellen Glasgow has observed: “The government’s like a mule, it’s slow and it’s sure; it’s slow to turn, and it’s sure to turn the way you don't want it.”
With a federal election coming up on or before October 20, 2025, can we look for more and speedy action on the so-called Action Plans?
And with B.C. placing only 25th on the scale for mining-investment attractiveness, and an election coming up this Oct. 19, let’s repeat that key message to Premier David Eby too:
“A sound and predictable regulatory regime coupled with competitive fiscal policies help make a jurisdiction attractive in the eyes of mining investors.”