Michael Goehring is the president and CEO of the Mining Association of British Columbia.
During the provincial election, both of B.C.’s main political parties emphasized the importance of mining and critical minerals to our economy and climate action. Both parties made solid commitments to expedite B.C.’s mine permitting process.
Governments globally are actively securing critical mineral supplies to support the clean energy transition and meet national security, defence and technology imperatives. Canada, B.C. and other provinces have critical mineral strategies with firm commitments to improve major mine permitting processes.
Mine permitting in B.C.—and the permitting of other major projects—takes much too long and lacks predictability. Critical minerals offer British Columbians a generational opportunity, but permitting bottlenecks and delays mean deferred or unrealized benefits, economic reconciliation and broader societal gains. They also send a negative message to capital markets and needlessly drive investment away, costing our province jobs, tax revenue and long-term shared prosperity.
For the rest of this column: https://www.theorca.ca/commentary/opinion-can-political-leaders-break-the-bottleneck-in-bcs-permitting-process-9729265