Determined to hold its own in the global race to electrify transport and to stand out in sectors such as aerospace and information technology, the Canadian federal government is injecting $3.8 billion over eight years into its new budget to implement Canada’s first Critical Minerals Strategy.
© Jacques Nadeau Le Devoir
The federal budget provides a 30% tax credit for exploration of critical minerals.
“Canada has an abundance of valuable critical minerals, but significant investments are needed to make the most of these resources,” the budget document says.
Among other things, the budget envelope for this new strategy includes funding of $1.5 billion for infrastructure investments “that will support the development of critical mineral supply chains”.
Help for mining exploration
Video: What to remember from Canada’s 2022 budget (Le Devoir)
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Fossil fuel industry won’t have to meet Canada’s 2030 climate target
Fossil fuel industry will miss Canada’s 2030 climate target Fossil fuel industry and transportation sector will miss Canada’s 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, says what emerges from the new plan unveiled Tuesday by the Trudeau government. This provides for investments of more than nine billion dollars in order to fight against the climate crisis and put the country on the path to carbon neutrality by 2050. This plan to reduce GHG emissions, which details “the next steps for Clean Air and a Strong Economy,” predicts that the country’s emissions will be reduced by 40% from their 2005 level by the end of the decade. This objective, which means that the country would then emit 443 million tonnes of GHGs, is the least ambitious of the two targets presented last year by the federal government. The two main sectors responsible for GHGs in Canada – the fossil fuel industries and the transport sector – will not meet this target, however, according to the calculations included in the 300-page document published on Tuesday. Emissions from the oil and gas industries, which represent more than five times those of the transportation sector in Québec, should therefore decline by 31% compared to 2005 levels by 2030. The Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, clarified that the government had opted for “a very pragmatic approach” which did not allow the same target to be imposed “for everyone”. Electricity production will have to reduce its emissions by 87% by 2030, while heavy industry must reach a target of 38%, he illustrated. What’s more, the Trudeau government expects oil and natural gas production to increase in the coming years, federal experts said at a briefing. “Canada continues to be an energy provider in the context of the transition,” it was argued. The country is the fourth largest exporter of oil and the sixth largest exporter of natural gas.
The duty
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Quebec promises a vast reform of the health system
Quebec promises a vast reform of the health system The Minister of Health and Social Services Christian Dubé presents his plan to implement the “changes necessary for a more humane and more efficient network”. The 79-page document reports on a network weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and facing many challenges, including staff shortages, the aging population and access to data. Citing the recommendations of the Rochon and Clair commissions, as well as the Ménard and Castonguay reports, Minister Dubé’s plan makes access to the front line a priority. “Reports are over. We must take action,” said Minister Christian Dubé during the press conference held Tuesday morning in Montreal. The Minister for Health and Social Services was at his side. The plan also emphasizes that all Quebecers must have access “to a family doctor or a health professional”, and to be able to “benefit from real care, within family medicine groups, for consultations within a reasonable time. The 36-hour delay for obtaining a consultation with a care team no longer seems to be the government’s ultimate target. Rather, it refers to “reasonable timeframes”. To reduce the list of patients waiting for a family doctor (945,000 people), Quebec is relying on interdisciplinarity within family medicine groups (FMGs). A front-line access window, intended for orphan patients, will also be implemented across Quebec. It is already in place in Bas-Saint-Laurent. Quebec says it is determined to improve the working conditions of health professionals. To achieve this, he intends to set up “self-management of schedules in each establishment”. The government reiterates its commitment to “eliminate” mandatory overtime from “routine management of operations”. To achieve this, massive recruitment campaigns and accelerated training of health professionals are continuing.
The duty
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Julie Snyder says she is ready to recount her alleged assault in court
Julie Snyder says she is ready to recount her alleged assault in court Host Julie Snyder keeps her head held high and says she is ready to recount her alleged assault in court, since she failed in her request to have the proceedings declared SLAPP in defamation brought against her by Gilbert Rozon. “No matter what, I will stand up and tell the truth. I will therefore continue to exercise my freedom of expression,” said Julie Snyder, in an interview with Le Devoir. The host is the subject of a $450,000 defamation lawsuit filed in October 2020 by the founder of Just for Laughs against her and radio host Pénélope McQuade. “I’m being asked to go to trial, I’m going to go and I’ll have to tell what happened,” she drops in a voice full of resignation. During her show La Semaine des 4 Julie, on September 29, 2020, Julie Snyder explained that she was inspired by her guest, Pénélope McQuade, who published a text in the collective book Unleash anger. Ms. Snyder announced that she wanted to respond to a statement made in February 2018 by Gilbert Rozon to a journalist from TVA Nouvelles “I have never made love to someone if a person said no”, he had said. “I would just like to tell Gilbert Rozon that I couldn’t say no to him because it happened while I was sleeping. I slept in a place where there were people from Just for Laughs […] I couldn’t say no, because I wasn’t asked,” she said. Mr. Rozon gave a completely different version of events during out-of-court testimony delivered under oath in September 2021. He said he welcomed Ms. Snyder into his apartment in Paris when she had just separated from singer Patrick Bruel and that she needed “comfort”.
The duty
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Ottawa is also creating a new “critical mineral exploration” tax credit of 30% for mineral exploration expenditures in Canada. This would apply to exploration expenditures targeting a list of minerals including nickel, lithium, cobalt and graphite – minerals essential for the production of batteries for electric vehicles. This measure is expected to cost the Government of Canada $400 million over the next five years.
Currently, the Government of Canada already offers a non-refundable tax credit of 15% on specified mineral exploration expenses incurred in Canada — for all minerals and not just critical ones — which will end on March 31, 2024, unless it is renewed. The new tax credit cannot be added to the existing one.
In addition, Ottawa will inject more than $10 million starting in 2024 to Natural Resources Canada to renew the Center of Excellence on Critical Minerals, which will assist operators of critical minerals by providing them “direct support” so that they can better navigate existing regulatory processes and support measures.
With Marco Belair-Cirino