UPDATE: LIBERAL-CREATED DELAYS AND RED TAPE BARRIERS ARE DAMAGING CANADA'S MINING SECTOR!

Shannon Stubbs, Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, wrote a follow-up letter to the Minister of Fisheries and the Minister of Environment:

Hon. Joyce Murray, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
200 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E6
Canada
Mail Stop 15N100
Floor 15

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Environment and Climate Change
200, boul. Sacré-Coeur
Gatineau, Québec K1A0H3
Canada

April 18, 2023

Dear Ministers,

Thank you for your responses to my initial letter on this subject, dated December 9, 2022.

Unfortunately, the responses, in particular from the Ministerial Correspondence Unit of the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, passed on responsibility to Environment and Natural Resources.

Impala is currently waiting for a decision from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), and has met with department officials on the subject. The MDMER regulations involving Canada’s waterways make this matter fall under the DFO. As one of Impala’s project delays required a quick assessment from the DFO, correspondence to the company regarding the current status of Impala Canada’s permitting process would be greatly appreciated.

It is vital that consultations conducted by both of your departments are completed in a clearly communicated timeline and that your departments keep to the timelines they set.

Impala’s example is unfortunately one of many I have heard from across Canada’s mining industry. I urge both of you to communicate to your departments the importance of 1: clearly communicating review timelines to project proponents during initial submission consultations; and 2: ensuring that these timelines are met by your departments in all but the most extenuating of circumstances.
Meeting environmental obligations through project reviews should not directly correlate to excessive timelines and uncertainty for projects. Failure to meet reasonable assessment timelines delays critical mining projects and threatens Canada’s ability to produce the minerals needed for future energy and electricity needs, and the world’s demands.

Impala’s deadline to break ground is August 2023, and their relevant documents were originally submitted to your departments on October 1, 2019, and January 16, 2020. I hope that now, four months after my last letter, consultations are concluding and a regulatory decision is close to being given. I expect projects like these to proceed in a more timely manner in the future.

Sincerely,

Shannon Stubbs, M.P., Lakeland
Shadow Minister for Natural Resources

CC: Hon. Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources