With critical minerals budget, Liberals finally embrace natural resources – by Heather Exner-Pirot (Toronto Star – April 27, 2022)

https://www.thestar.com/

To see the federal Liberals finally aligning with our much-maligned resource sector in such a big way is a game changer.

One of the biggest ticket items from this month’s federal budget was $3.8 billion for critical minerals — the mining products we need to produce everything from fertilizer to windmills to touch screens.

The timing is great, as commodities are booming. The demand for some of the minerals required for the energy transition, for example, is set to quintuple. Public funds will be directed toward supports for mineral surveying, processing and recycling, as well as tax credits for digging new mines and subsidies for infrastructure.

The Mining Association of Canada, which represents the mining industry, could not be more delighted. Such is their enthusiasm for the budget that one might speculate it was they who wrote the ask, and then got everything on their list.

This is a good thing; to see the federal Liberals finally aligning with our much-maligned resource sector in such a big way is a game changer.

For the rest of this article: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/04/27/with-critical-minerals-budget-liberals-finally-embrace-natural-resources.html