Ontario’s newly re-election Premier wants more action done faster from the mining sector.
Doug Ford outlined at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto a series of measures he promised during the recent election campaign.
Ford says mining and critical minerals are so important to Ontario’s economic success.
“We need to take advantage of the incredible resources we have here in Ontario,” says Ford.
“Every critical mineral in the world. They need it, we have it, they want it. And we’ll make sure we deliver it, as well as our incredible world-class workforce.”
Ford’s first order of business is convincing the federal government to scrap its need for duplicate environment assessment.
“We cannot afford to add years and years of delays, massive cost to the critical mineral projects so that the federal government can waste time repeating and replicating assessments that Ontario has already done.”
Ford says he will propose a number of new policies to help expand mining and critical mineral development that includes a new one-project-one-process approach to streamline permitting and cutting red tape.
Ford also wants to designate regions where critical minerals are or likely to be present as regions of strategic importance for our economy and security, allowing projects in those areas to be fast-tracked.
There are plans to see more processing of minerals done in the province.
“We propose creating a new $500 million critical minerals processing fund that will support processing projects, attract private capital investments and speed up key projects along the critical mineral supply chain. This fund will help ensure a truly made-in-Ontario critical mineral supply chain.”
Ford is also looking for more First Nations involvement and proposes an added $70 million investment to expand the Aboriginal Participation Fund to help train Indigenous workers in mining jobs.
He also plans to enhance Aboriginal loan guarantee programs by making $3 billion available to First Nations to participate in a range of projects, including mining and electricity generation and transmission.
