This afternoon, we are debating third reading of the Building More Mines Act. This afternoon, it will be my intention to hit on the highlights of this proposed legislation. I always find it useful, when you’re talking about a piece of legislation like this, not only to talk about what you intend to set out with the new piece of legislation, but also to deal with what this legislation is not about.

First of all, let’s talk about what this legislation does not do. This legislation does not change any of the environmental legislation in the province of Ontario. It does not, in any way, shape or form, change any of Ontario’s world-class environmental legislation. All of that remains untouched by this act.

Secondly, this act does not change any of the obligations that exist under our treaties with First Nations. Those obligations are set out in section 35 of the Constitution. Section 35 cannot be changed, and none of that is affected by this act. On the contrary, in fact, section 2 of the Mining Act specifically recognizes our treaty obligations as set out under section 35 of the Constitution.

Those are the two things that this legislation, or this proposed legislation, does not change and does not modify in any way.

Let’s talk now about what this act does do. The primary issue that this act proposes to deal with is the issue of permitting a mine. There’s no actual piece of paper that says “mine permit”; you don’t get that when you apply to build a mine. It’s a process, and you meet certain milestones and you file your paperwork and you file your financial assurances, and that gives you the permission to build mines. So I’m just going to speak in terms of there actually being a permit. As things stand right now, it can actually take up to 15 years to permit and build a mine. We in the government benches think 15 years is too long. We’ve said so and that’s our position: 15 years is too long to wait for the good-paying jobs that are created by the mining industry.

If you’re a skilled tradesperson, if you’re a miner, if you’re an engineer, if you’re a machinist, if you’re a heavy equipment operator, if you’re a prospector—if you fall into any one of those numerous categories that depend on mining for your livelihood, including the people who supply the mines, not only with the equipment but things like food and services, 15 years is too long to wait for you to earn a living. If you wait 15 years, you lose 15 years of opportunity; you lose 15 years of economic advancement; you lose 15 years of experience. And people don’t want to lose that. We in the government benches don’t want them to lose it either. That is our primary motivation for putting forward this legislation, because, as I’ve said, 15 years is too long to wait. Speaker, 15 years is too long to wait for critical minerals, because we’re going to need those critical minerals. We can’t rely on supply chains that wrap around the world and can be interrupted by any sorts of events. They can be interrupted by war. They can be interrupted by civil uprisings. They can be interrupted by trade disputes. They can be interrupted by the weather. We don’t want to be dependent on those extensive supply chains all around the world to get our critical minerals.

I’ve mentioned some of the disruptions that can happen, but some of the disruptions that happen are actually planned disruptions. There are other actors around the globe who will intentionally interfere with critical mineral supply in order to deprive Canada and Ontario of critical minerals, and we don’t want to make ourselves dependent on them. So building a critical minerals supply chain right here in the province of Ontario, where we mine the critical minerals in Ontario, process the critical minerals in Ontario and then use the critical minerals in Ontario, is vital. It’s important. I would go so far as to say it is nation-building.

We have automotive companies setting up plants right here in Ontario to build electric vehicles. They’re setting up in places like Windsor, Oakville, Brampton, and St. Thomas. They’re already building in Windsor. And we can’t wait 15 years for those critical minerals. We won’t wait. We have to move this process along faster. In the opinion of the members on the government benches, 15 years is too long to wait.

We know that the opposition members don’t share our opinion. While we say 15 years is too long to wait, members of the opposition have said that 15 years is a reasonable time to wait for the permitting and building of a mine. For example, the member from Niagara Centre said that 15 years was a reasonable amount of time, stating as follows: “From speaking to mining executives and people like my seatmate here, who is very experienced in mining, 15 years was a very reasonable amount of time to open a mine.” But I disagree, and the members on the government benches disagree.

Where the official opposition believes that 15 years is a reasonable amount of time for the permitting and building of a mine, we say it is too long. We also say that it’s not our opinion alone. We say that it is the vast majority of the industry, and perhaps the unanimous opinion of those representing the mining industry, who say that 15 years is far too long to permit and build a mine.

Let me share, for example, the opinion of the past president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Alex Christopher. Contrary to the opinion expressed by the official opposition, this is what the former president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada said: “First of all, if we think about what society is really looking for, it’s really moving towards a less carbon-intensive world. One of the things we have to do as an industry is get out there and work hard to change the hearts and minds of society for them to recognize the importance of the industry, how it impacts their lives and how it contributes to that transition to a lower carbon environment. Without mining, we won’t have the metals and minerals we need to be able to do that. Given the world wants to us do it at pace, we have to look really hard at how we go about doing our business, how we go about permitting and approving mines so that we can actually have those critical minerals that we need.”

He went on to say this about the Critical Minerals Strategy: “Now the government’s come out with the Critical Minerals Strategy and how that works with industry and the implementation of that dovetails with industry to allow us to advance those projects that are required.”

That comes from Alex Christopher, the former president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

But he didn’t stop there; he went on and said this: “I think one of the things that we’re going to have to watch is permitting timelines for minerals that are critical in the transition to a lower-carbon economy. Time will tell whether we see movement in that area.”

Alex Christopher went on to say this: “I think the U.S. has the same challenges as Canada with respect to permitting timelines and it will be interesting to see how some of their changes in policy really affect that and the ability to develop at a faster pace.”

So, you see, Madam Speaker, it’s not just the opinion of government benches that 15 years is too long to permit and build a mine; it’s also the opinion of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, speaking through their foremost spokesperson.

My colleague the Minister of Mines has spoken eloquently about all of the opportunities that are presented in the mining industry. Alex Christopher also had something to say about that: “The whole transition to a lower carbon economy, in my mind presents a generational opportunity for young people coming into the industry. Canada is a resource-rich nation and we can lead the way in many areas with respect to this. If I was a young person coming into the industry, I’d be really stoked right now about the opportunities ahead of me.”

What a great endorsement from that organization, to say that young people should be “really stoked” about the mining industry. Those words should sound familiar because others have used those words.

The Minister of Mines has talked about the generational opportunity presented by the mining industry, and the goal of this legislation is to lay the foundation for the future of mining in the province of Ontario. We don’t want to push it off and push it off, making mines longer and harder to open. That doesn’t serve young people in Ontario. That doesn’t serve young miners in Ontario.

When we talk about opening up opportunities, we’re talking about opening up opportunities for people in north. That is a common refrain. This is a huge opportunity for people in the north.

But I’m from the south. What does it mean for people in the south, like people in Essex county or people in Windsor? Well, I come from Essex county; in my region, we build vehicles. Canada builds and exports approximately two million vehicles a year. We’re going to start building electric vehicles, and we’re going to build those vehicles right here in Ontario. We’re going to build them in my region of Essex county. We’re going to build them in Windsor–Tecumseh. We’re going to build them in Brampton. We’re going to build them in Oakville.

What does the industry think about that?

Well, let’s hear from Luca Giacovazzi, CEO of Wyloo Metals. Here’s what Mr. Giacovazzi said: “We want to see the nickel we produce go into a battery metals plant somewhere in Ontario, that can ultimately end up hopefully in a Gigafactory somewhere in Ontario, and in a car that’s manufactured in the province.”

We already have that starting. It’s starting in Windsor. It’s starting in St. Thomas. It’s starting in Brampton. It’s starting in Oakville. It’s starting all across southern Ontario. That is the link that the south has with the north. That is why we in the south are so interested in making sure that the people of the north share in all the economic opportunity that we have, because we’re going to create a perfect domestic supply chain right here in the province of Ontario. The optimism is catching. It’s astounding. It’s spreading all across the province.

Here’s what Luca Giacovazzi said about northern Ontario: “We’ll need every able-bodied man and woman in the communities to work on the mine site to run Eagle’s Nest, including all the other ancillary support services, so there’s a tremendous opportunity to employ out of the communities....

“The nickel we get out of Eagle’s Nest should be enough to make 10 million EVs. So, from an environmental perspective, the net benefit is massive.”

Those are the words of Luca Giacovazzi. He’s talking about needing every able-bodied man and woman to work at Eagle’s Nest. But that’s just one project.

What about the other projects? Can you imagine all of the other projects that are possible in Ontario, across northern Ontario, including all of the projects that are made possible by the Ring of Fire? We’re talking about job opportunities not only for one community, but for communities all across the north. We’re talking about needing more people to fill those job opportunities. That’s something that the north might not be used to. I’m told by my colleagues from the north that the north experiences population loss or population stagnation because people leave the north to seek economic opportunity elsewhere. But now we have an opportunity through mining to reverse that flow—not just stop it, but reverse it. In fact, what we might need is so many people working in the north that we have to have immigration to the north to fill all of those job opportunities that will be opening up in this sector.

So far we’ve heard from individuals in the mining sector about their overwhelming support for this legislation. Let’s hear from somebody outside the sector. Let’s hear from the Sudbury chamber of commerce: “We welcome the proposed changes to the Mining Act that are outlined in Bill 71, Building More Mines Act, 2023. The current process for mine approval is unnecessarily duplicative and expensive and has long been a barrier to investment and development of Ontario’s mining resources. We are supportive of Bill 71 which seeks to streamline processes to reduce the time it takes to open a ... mine, while continuing to ensure that Indigenous communities are engaged and consulted throughout.”

Madam Speaker, this is a submission that shows that not only the mining industry supports the Building More Mines Act, but the general business community also supports it.

Just to reaffirm what we’ve already said: This bill is about speeding up the building of mines. It’s about shortening the permitting process. It does nothing to change Ontario’s world-class environmental standards. All of those world-class environmental standards remain 100% intact.

In addition, this bill being about shortening the timeline for the permitting process does nothing to change the treaties’ duty-to-consult obligation. That obligation is enshrined in section 35 of the Constitution. It cannot be changed, and it is specifically recognized in section 2 of the Mining Act.

Now here is another key piece of this legislation which I think is very important: This legislation brings mining legislation in Ontario more into line with mining legislation in Quebec. In Quebec, that legislation places some decision-making authority in the hand of the minister, and that is one of the reasons why Quebec moves faster than Ontario when it comes to opening new mines.

I want to share with the House what the committee of the interior heard with regard to that subject. This comes from Michiel van Akkooi, senior vice-president of Kinross Gold Corp.: “The proposed amendments under the act, particularly as they relate to closure plans and the movement of decision-making powers into the hands of the minister, are particularly important. The ability to improve timelines for closure plans while simultaneously reducing initial costs for project proponents is a significant improvement over current rules and will provide enhanced clarity on permitting timelines as well as reducing uncertainty on the same for project proponents. By moving decision-making powers into the hands of the minister, government will reduce the complexity of the process which in turn further reduces uncertainty for project proponents and investors alike. Together these changes, and the others proposed in the act, will enhance Ontario’s position as a global leader in mining and mineral exploration while still maintaining the world-class environmental and safety standards that are so vital to the sector’s long-term success and trust with greater public.”

So you’ll notice that Mr. van Akkooi is very, very supportive of the changes that we’re making, and in particular, he underscores the fact that we have to move our legislation to be in line with Quebec’s legislation, which does exactly the same thing: putting some decision-making authority into the hands of the minister.

Right now, the act hasn’t passed yet. So as we speak, Quebec has the leading edge on us. It’s not that Quebec has better employees; they don’t. It’s not that Quebec has better companies; they don’t. It’s not that Quebec has better explorers or miners; they don’t. They have better legislation. That’s what they have. But with the passage of this act, our legislation will now be in line with Quebec’s legislation, and we will be able to take advantage of the same opportunities that Quebec is taking advantage of.

I recognize, from their comments, that the opposition doesn’t support any of this. They’ve said so plainly and clearly. They do not support these legislative changes that put our legislation in line with Quebec’s legislation, and they’ve made that clear.

But we are going to make it clear from the government benches that we think that putting our legislation in line to compete with Quebec is important, because that’s what the industry is telling us, and that’s what needs to be done.

Now I want to turn my attention to a few of the more spectacular objections that were enunciated by the opposition. We previously had a debate on this. I patiently sat through the entire debate. I heard various members speak. I heard the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas speak. The member said some things I thoroughly disagree with. I want to make absolutely clear I thoroughly disagree with those comments. For example, during the course of that member’s comments on this proposed legislation, she made reference to towns blowing up. I want to make sure that every member of this House appreciates the fact that I disagree. I don’t think this legislation has anything to do with blowing up towns. But that’s what the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas alluded to.

Now let’s talk about another comment made by the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas. Not only did she make those previous references, she also made reference to a sniper death.

I want to make this absolutely clear: I thoroughly disagree with those comments. This legislation has absolutely nothing to do with those allusions made by that member. This legislation is about shortening the timeline for the permitting and building of mines; that’s what this legislation proposes to do. It has nothing to do with those two previous comments that the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas alluded to.

In fact, the member from Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas also said that she felt for the people of the north who didn’t have the same economic opportunities as people from the south. Well, I’ll go back to the comments of Luca Giacovazzi, who said that we need every able-bodied man and woman in the communities to work on the mine site to run Eagle’s Nest, including all the other ancillary support services, so there’s a tremendous opportunity to employ out of the communities.

So it seems that if you want to create opportunity, part of what you should be doing is promoting this legislation.

Let’s talk a little bit more about what this legislation proposes to do. There was a certain individual who expressed a great deal of dissatisfaction with our proposed legislation; that person came to this Legislature and created a disturbance at this Legislature. I thought that person disturbing the proceedings of this Legislature was disruptive, and it should not have been applauded; it should not have been participated in. But I do note that the members of the NDP caucus applauded when that person disrupted the democratic process of this Legislature. Not only did they applaud, but they stood up and they continued to seemingly endorse that behaviour. There were several of them who alluded to it during their speeches and think that that kind of disruption is appropriate; I say it is not, and I think that if we are going to continue the debate on this legislation, it’s important that we all recognize some ground rules.

There were also some comments made by some members of the opposition that I felt were useful comments. For example, the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North said, “We know we don’t want the men and women who work in mines to wind up living in mining camps long-term. We want them to be building communities in neighbouring municipalities or creating new communities.” I thought that those comments were very helpful and good, and I agree with those comments. I think that the passage of this legislation will lead to building more mines faster, and that’s good, because that will reverse the loss of population in the north—or hopefully it will lead to that. It might even lead to further immigration to the north, building more communities, as was desired by the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North. I think that’s very good.

Not only did they speak in favour of creating communities and greater communities, I think that the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane had some useful comments to make as well. That member spoke very strongly in favour of better roads for the north. In my brief period in this Legislature, the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane has struck me as being a gentleman and a farmer, and I think he spoke eloquently in favour of roads for the north. I think that one of the things that the member from Timiskaming-Cochrane will be happy about is that we are or will be delivering roads for the north.

Two of the roads that are currently under environmental assessment are being led by Webequie First Nation and Marten Falls First Nation. Those two First Nations are leading the environmental assessment for the building of two roads in the north. These will eventually be all-season roads. They will connect to the northern road network which also will connect to various other cities such as Timmins and Sudbury and to the south, even as far as Essex county eventually. This is what we talk about when we create a domestic supply chain, and it opens up all sorts of opportunity for people in the north.

I would very much like to give the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane exactly what he wants, which is more roads for the north. But do you know what? I think his own caucus members are trying to block him. His own caucus members are trying to put as many roadblocks to roads in the north as they possibly can. They’ve offered a lot of excuses. They’ve offered a lot of roadblocks.

I would venture to guess that the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane might start feeling a bit uncomfortable in his own caucus. The poor guy wants to build roads to his riding and has his own caucus trying to throw him under the bus. But he spoke eloquently, and we’ll see if he can convince the rest of his caucus members to vote in favour of roads to the north and roads to Timiskaming–Cochrane.

What else are we going to talk about today when we’re talking about the Building More Mines Act? Where does that leave us? It leaves us, again, with changing absolutely nothing about the world-class environmental standards in the province of Ontario. The process for opening a mine remains the same, except that it will be introduced in stages.

The old process that we’re talking about is that when you propose to open a mine, you have to submit two things: a plan and a financial security. You have to have the plan submitted up front and the financial security submitted up front. As we’ve all seen, mines can last decades—they can last 50 years, 75 years, maybe even 100 years—so it’s very difficult to predict what the future is going to look like for a mine. Therefore, it’s also very difficult to predict what the closure plan should look like and what should go into that plan, because things change over time, technology changes over time, plans change over time. But for some reason, you have to submit that whole 50- or 75- or 100-year plan up front—very hard to do, and that adds substantially to the time it takes to permit a mine. In addition to that, you have to submit 100% of the financial security up front for a plan that might actually not even take place for 50 years or 60 years or more. That seems to be rather unreasonable—to lock up your funds for 50 or 60 or 70 years, when those funds could be used for something productive, such as building more mines and creating more jobs and creating more economic opportunity.

What this legislation proposes to do is, rather than having that 100% up-front status quo, to change that into a staged process. What would happen in a staged process? In a staged process, you would have to submit a plan at every stage of the process. Let us imagine, for example, you have a plan for the next five years. You submit that plan. The ministry would review that plan, and you would submit, along with that plan, a financial security that covered the next five years, and that stage would be covered. Then you would be able to go forward with that stage of the project. That seems eminently reasonable. Once you’ve reached the five-year stage, if you propose to go any further, you would have to submit another plan. Maybe that plan would be a 10-year plan. Maybe it would be a 12-year plan. Maybe it would be a seven-and-a-half-year plan. Whatever that plan entails, you would have to submit your plan for that. And then, of course, you would have to submit the matching financial security for that plan, and that, of course, is what we refer to as a staged process. It’s perfectly reasonable. It of course preserves all of the environmental legislation in the province of Ontario and does not detract from it whatsoever. It maintains financial security in place; it does not detract from it whatsoever. But what it does do is, it makes the plan and the financial security more responsive to what is actually happening in the mining industry.

If you have any qualms about that, just think about it for a second. If you were required to embark on a project and lock up your money for, let’s even say, 10 years or 20 years—lock up your money for 20 years without any prospect on a return on your investment, lock up your money for 20 years without any prospect of being able to access that money for the purpose of actually doing mining, and lock up that money for 20 years in essentially a non-performing and non-productive way, what would that do for mining? What would that do for job creation? What would that do for the creation of mining jobs in northern Ontario? What would it do for the creation of a domestic supply chain? And what would that do for the automobile plants, the electric vehicle plants in my area and in the areas of so many of the members of this Legislature? We all know what the answer is. The answer is delay, if not worse.

That is the genesis of this piece of legislation. The genesis of this legislation is to address timelines. That’s what it does. It shortens the timelines for the permitting and building of mines in Ontario. We in the government benches support that wholeheartedly because we support the Critical Minerals Strategy and we support the mining industry.