How Trudeau proposes to make Canada a key supplier of critical minerals – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 8, 2022)

https://financialpost.com/

Billions earmarked in the federal budget to develop an industry crucial to the world’s energy transition

Few issues are as hotly debated as the costs of climate change, and the new federal budget is unlikely to cool the tenor of that discussion.

Chrystia Freeland’s second budget as finance minister proposes billions of dollars in new spending to incentivize more mining of critical minerals through investments in infrastructure, tax credits for exploration, and funding to help attract the downstream industries that turn those minerals into products such as electric vehicles and battery cells.

Critical minerals include not only the lithium, nickel and cobalt used in batteries, but a far wider array of elements, from copper to manganese. The budget proposes allocating at least $3.8 billion in cash, plus more in tax credits, between now and 2030, to develop a supply chain of critical minerals.

Whether that investment sounds like too much money, or far too little, depends on how you view the threats posed by climate change and the urgency of the energy transition. In any case, here’s how some of that spending breaks down:

For the rest of this article: https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/how-trudeau-proposes-to-make-canada-a-key-supplier-of-critical-minerals