Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a rare earth elements processing plant in Saskatoon Monday as part of a tour to oversee the Canadian supply chain of metals and minerals needed for a greener world.
The world will look to Canada to step up its production of rare earth elements and bolster available supply chains, many of which have been plagued with issues throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Trudeau said Monday.
“We need, of course, efficiency in our supply chains. But we also really need resilience in our supply chains,” Trudeau said.
“This is an exciting time to be forward-looking at what the world needs from Canada… Canada is extraordinarily well-positioned to succeed in the decades to come.”
In 2020, the World Bank predicted that demand for critical minerals — dozens of metals and minerals like lithium and copper that are used in batteries and clean energy generation — will soar 500 per cent by 2050.
Lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper and the group of 17 metals and minerals known as rare earth elements are being prioritized for investments in exploration, production and processing as part of Canada’s critical minerals strategy, announced by Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson last month.
Critical minerals were also among the issues Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador discussed during their summit last week in Mexico.
Many European countries were forced to pivot from where they supply energy, as Russia — a massive energy producer, particularly for European countries — is not currently reliable due to the war, he explained.
Additionally, the economy is shifting toward greener solutions, such as electric vehicles.
Saskatchewan, a mining hub, has the ability to boost the local supply chain of metals minerals needed for those new technologies, he said.
On Monday, Trudeau and Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark toured the Vital Metals facility in Saskatoon, speaking with workers and getting an inside look at the process.
It’s part of the Nechalacho Project that Vital Metals — an Australia-based company — launched last year. The project made the company the first rare earths elements producer in Canada, according to the corporate website.
The metals and minerals are extracted at the Nechalacho mine in N.W.T., before being shipped to Saskatoon to produce a “rare earth carbonate product,” that is then sent to a company based in Norway, the website says.
The federal government recently spent $5 million to help establish processing and production at the Saskatoon facility, according to a news release issued by the government.
“It’s not just about buying from a reliable ally,” Trudeau said.
The tour, in part, is to ensure that Trudeau knows how the whole process works — that it’s done efficiently, in partnership with Indigenous peoples, and that employees work under proper labour practices, he added.
Moe alleges he was not invited to tour
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe released a statement Monday welcoming the prime minister, while calling the visit “disappointing, but not surprising.”
Moe said the provincial government has been advocating for more investment into this area of natural resource development, but alleged his government was not made aware that Trudeau was visiting.
Read my statement on the Prime Minister’s visit to Saskatchewan today: <a href=”https://t.co/vUoBKwU2nQ”>pic.twitter.com/vUoBKwU2nQ</a>
“It’s disappointing simply because this is one of the points where the province of Saskatchewan and the federal government most certainly do see eye-to-eye,” Moe later told reporters Monday afternoon.
In his statement Monday, Moe pointed out that he led a delegation in Washington, D.C., last month to discuss ways to partner with the United States to provide “elements required for North American energy security.”
Trudeau’s visit was unsurprising because he was likely made aware of those conversations during that meeting, Moe told reporters Monday.
Moe said he didn’t feel slighted by not being invited, but that Monday was a missed opportunity to at least have a discussion about working together on natural resource development in Saskatchewan.
Moe added that when he’s in Ottawa, he informs the prime minister — and he would expect the same.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he was disappointed that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not make Moe aware of his visit to Saskatoon, because they could have had a discussion about natural resource development in the province. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)
CBC News twice asked Trudeau twice during a scrum why the premier was not invited.
He dodged the question, saying he was happy to be joined by Clark and John Dorward, Vital Metals’ managing director, during the tour.
The federal government wants to keep working with the Saskatchewan government, particularly toward innovating the economy, Trudeau said.
In a statement sent to news media, Saskatchewan Opposition NDP leader Carla Beck accused the premier of acting childish, opting to play politics instead of working together and promoting potential further investment.
The province, Beck said, must get back to telling the rest of Canada and countries abroad that Saskatchewan has much potential.
FSIN ‘dismayed’ Trudeau did not visit Star Blanket
Trudeau’s agenda in Saskatchewan Monday also drew the ire of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), which represents the province’s First Nations.
In a statement, the FSIN said it is “dismayed” the prime minister would exclude Star Blanket Cree Nation from his trip.
On Thursday, the community announced findings from recent ground penetrating radar searches at the former Lebret Indian Residential School.
According to the FSIN, Trudeau was invited to attend that event, but declined because he was “waiting to confirm a meeting with the Japanese prime minister.”
“The Prime Minister is without the decency to pay his respects in person to Star Blanket, as they mourn the horrific discovery,” FSIN chief Bobby Camerson said in the statement.
“His lack of respect is hurtful toward all residential school survivors and descendants, who are grappling with how to handle finding the child’s remains and more unmarked graves.”
Cameron said he first learned of Trudeau’s visit to Saskatoon Monday in the press, adding he was “taken aback that their request to attend the residential school announcement wasn’t valued as much as a tour of a rare earth mining processing plant.”
The FSIN said its statement is a formal invitation for Trudeau to visit Star Blanket, 75 kilometres northeast of Regina, in the coming months.
“We want him to see the site. The amount of anomalies is devastating to our people, who wonder how many of our relatives may have died there,” File Hills Qu’appelle Tribal Chair Jeremy Fourhorns said.
“This is a dark part of Canadian history that deserves acknowledgement from the Prime Minister of Canada.”
Trudeau’s first comments at Monday’s tour addressed Star Blanket, calling the discoveries there “heartbreaking” and noting that he spoke with Chief Michael Starr on Friday.
“[I called] to express our ongoing support, whether it’s financial or with resources, as that community moves through the location of remains,” the prime minister said.
“Also of the healing and closure we know is so important in the aftermath of the horrific residential schools that impacted so many people across the province, across the country.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
