Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Ottawa and the provinces must work together to expedite the regulatory and permitting processes that bring new mines into production in a timely way.

But federal approvals for this industrial developments won’t be granted at the expense of cutting corners from an environmental perspective and in a manner that disrespects the rights of Indigenous people and communities.

Wilkinson was in Vancouver Dec. 9 reiterating his government’s previously announced critical minerals strategy and the available $3.8 billion in federal funding for initiatives and projects related to exploration, minerals processing, manufacturing and recycling.

With U.S. and international electric vehicle and clean energy companies desperately wanting access to Canada’s abundant resources of nickel, lithium and other critical minerals in order to make the transition to the net-zero emission economies, Wilkinson said waiting an average of 12 years for government to approve new mines in Canada just won’t cut it.