Ottawa’s murky environmental rules are parking foreign investment in Canadian resource projects, says analyst – Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – October 30, 2023)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Overreaching, unconstitutional Impact Assessment Act has Ontario on the offensive to expedite project approvals

Quiet quitting became a cultural buzzword during the pandemic for workplace passivity and resignation. That lethargy now extends to investment in Canada’s natural resources sectors too, said Heather Exner-Pirot.

The mere mention of the federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) to U.S. firms with Canadian projects can trigger mocking comments like the “Don’t Invest in Canada Act” and “banana republic,” said Exner-Pirot, director of natural resources, energy and environment with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a national public policy think tank.

“There is quiet quitting. People are walking away from investing in Canada,” said Exner-Pirot. And it’s happening, she said, at a crucial time when the country should be doubling and tripling down on critical minerals mine development for electric vehicle battery manufacturing.

That’s the feedback and the overall feeling of uncertainty she’s fielding from companies she’s spoken with outside of Canada. Many proponents of big resource projects in Canada are waiting for the outcome of the next federal election in 2025.

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