Good morning, Speaker. It is, as usual, always a pleasure to rise in this House to speak on behalf of the good people of Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas.

This morning, we’re discussing a very important bill that will have implications, not necessarily directly for my riding, but for Ontario and for our environment and for our relations with Indigenous people. That’s what I’m going to speak about this morning.

We know, and we’ve been hearing in this House, that Canada and Ontario’s mining industry rightfully boasts about their role as industry leaders across the globe. We have, as we know, in Ontario a resource sector that has created some of the prosperity that we continue to enjoy in this province, as has been described. The Toronto Stock Exchange was founded on investments in extraction in our resource sector, so it’s a very, very important industry. We understand that.

We also would like to acknowledge the way in which the sector, the mining industry, has worked and has striven to continuously improve the way in which they operate. We see a mining industry that has matured in a way where they recognize the importance of operating in a safe manner, operating in a way that’s environmentally safe, a way that is safe for their employees, and a way that continues to be safe for the communities in which they operate. That is to be commended.

We see that this is an industry that is understanding the importance of looking at their tailings and making sure that that’s handled in a responsible way, their role in reclaiming land where they have operated. This is a responsible industry.

I would say that it’s not just about protecting the environment and the employees and the families and the communities; mining is big business and we know that in this province. The work that the mining industry has done to improve their practice to be good corporate citizens, if you will, has huge implications on the financial implications, the financial risks, that are involved in this sector. The mining industry understands, and we see them understand, that good regulation and good policy is good business.

Before I came to this House, I worked in corporate social responsibility, and it was just understood that if you did not operate in a way that was corporately responsible, if you were not a good corporate citizen, it eventually would impact the bottom line, and so it was the right thing to do, but it was also a thing that was good to do for business.

Some of these regulations that are in place and these practices are about de-risking this industry: de-risking an industry when it comes to people and when it comes to the environment, but also de-risking the financial investments that are made by people across this province. When I say people that are investing their finances into this industry, I’m not just talking about shareholders, which is an important consideration because we need to talk about investor protection when it comes to this industry. We really need to understand how we protect the average retail investor that buys stock in these companies and is putting their good money at risk, their hard-earned dollars at risk. We also need to look at de-risking the financial implications for taxpayers, because so much money—public taxpayer dollars—is invested in this industry. It is a good investment if it’s invested wisely.

The member from Timiskaming–Cochrane in his speech yesterday—which we all quite enjoyed—talked about the big piece of silver that is actually here in this building, and it is a source of pride for his community. It came from the Keeley mine in Cobalt. It’s a source of pride for him; it should be a source of pride for all Ontario, because it’s placed right there with all of the other evidence of our history, the proud history that we have in Ontario.

To begin this, I want to say that we all here in this House, including the industry, have a responsibility to make things better, not in any way to devolve what has already happened in this industry. I am going to talk about ways in which I think that this bill is ill-considered in a lot of aspects and that we need to work together to make sure that a bill that has implications for such an important industry is a good bill, and this bill could use some improvement.

For the people that are listening, in a nutshell, when a company undertakes to explore a mine and open a mine, there are many, many steps that need to be taken, and these are all just reasonable expectations. We expect that a company will, as I’ve said before, make sure to protect the people that are working in the mine—whether it’s to explore the mine, to open the mine, to work in the mine, they need to be protected. We expect that people who live in the community and the environment around them, that those things are taken into consideration, that environmental assessments and protections for post-mine operation are taken into consideration, because we have seen, unfortunately, examples in our history, whether it’s the mining industry or whether it’s other extractive industries, where we have poisoned our groundwater, we’ve seen examples where people have lived with air that was unsafe to breathe, contaminated soil. This is the unfortunate legacy of some of the industries that have operated in Ontario and around the world, and we want to avoid that. Industries know and they must do simply what is expected: operate a mine in a way that’s reasonable and responsible, and so we have protections in place.

Let’s talk about the miners and their families, because we’ve seen mining tragedies. People have lost their lives in the mining industry because it’s a very dangerous, difficult job, and we want to make sure that miners are safe so that they return home to their families at the end of a day. Safety for workers is simply not negotiable. It’s something that we should all expect, that we operate at the highest, highest priority.

I would say that we’ve come a long way. We certainly have come a long way. I just would like to say we’ve heard stories about people who have had experience in the mining industry. I would just like to share that my partner worked at a mine, many years ago, and it was his goal—which he achieved—to get out of the mine by making the junior hockey team, which he did. He worked for the King Miners; that was the name of the hockey team. He describes an industry that was very, very dangerous at the time. This was many, many years ago. We’ve since heard and learned from people who work in the industry that that’s changed quite significantly. Kudos to the industry, but there are still many, many cautionary tales when it comes to any industry that has such high stakes for people, for the environment and for financial investors.

I’m going to talk a little about the financial risk that we all—all of us—share in when it comes to the mining industry. It’s a reasonable question to ask the government, through this bill, how the public taxpayer will be guarded against assuming the liability and the astronomical costs of site remediation or cleanup, not only when things go wrong, but just in the regular course of operating a mine. That’s a reasonable question to ask: How are taxpayers being safeguarded and how is the average investor being safeguarded?

This bill waters down the financial assurances that should be in place or have been in place when mines begin to operate. We know that many of the big mining companies have operated for many, many years in a way that, as I said, has proven to be responsible and continue to improve their practices. But with early exploration, particularly when it comes to the Ring of Fire, we have to be mindful of junior mining industries who may or may not have the financial resources, may not have the balance sheet to backstop the costs, the environmental costs and the financial costs, that will result from their operations. We need to protect that. We need to make sure there’s a level playing field, so that big industries that are prepared to operate at a high standard are not in competition with smaller operators that don’t put in the same standard of care, if that’s the case.

I think this is particularly important because, again, many of these mines will operate on public crown lands and who owns the responsibility of the cleanup and the cost? It’s the taxpayer. It’s the public.

A huge cautionary tale in this province would be the legacy of the oil and gas industry. People need to really understand the significance of the many, many oil and gas wells that have been abandoned in this province. If you go online and you search a map—just ask for a map of abandoned oil and gas wells—you will be shocked to find that there are 28,000 in the province and there’s probably one in a community near you.

Most of these are in southwestern Ontario, I would say in Conservative-held ridings. It used to be many of these were in rural areas where there were not a lot of people living. But as we’ve had development and urban expansion, these abandoned oil and gas wells can be in communities, right in downtown communities. In my community, Waterdown—it’s actually in Flamborough–Glanbrook riding—right in the downtown core, there’s an oil and gas well. These pose a significant risk to life and property.

We saw that with the experience of Wheatley. In the riding of Chatham-Kent–Leamington, the town of Wheatley literally blew up. The downtown core blew up after many, many times of people saying that there was a problem here and there was no response from this government. The town was flattened, 20 people were injured and hospitalized, and no one is assuming the responsibility for the cleanup. The cleanup and the costs are not being assumed by this government, despite pleas from the municipality. Wheatley is a huge cautionary tale.

The Auditor General has identified that almost 4,400—in fact, the Ontario petroleum industry itself has identified that 4,400 of these abandoned oil and gas wells pose an immediate and significant risk to people and to property. This is the legacy of an industry that we want to avoid, because the cleanup that no one wants to assume, that will end up being on the public dime, is going to be in the billions and billions of dollars.

I actually proposed that this would be a good opportunity for this government to engage in good green infrastructure. If they’re actually really very concerned about the environment and carbon capture that we hear, it needs to be acknowledged that these abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking and they’re a significant contributor of carbon gas emissions. This is a problem that this government does not want to acknowledge and is turning away from, but it’s a problem that we could be headlong running into recklessly, based on this tale if we’re not careful with a bill that needs to be improved.

We talk about industries that are too big to fail. Who would ever expect that the oil and gas industry would fail the people of the province of Ontario? But it has happened. People talk about this like it’s an Alberta problem—it’s not. It’s a big problem in Ontario. We have an oil and gas industry that is older than that of Alberta and, because of that, we don’t know where some of these mines are and what conditions the wells are in, and that is something that I charge this government with taking as your responsibility. As you move to the future, as you want to develop the Ring of Fire and build roads through the peat lands, look to the problem that we already have before us.

I also want to talk about the cautionary tale, which is how this government is treating their Indigenous relations. This is a government that, time and time again, has not stood up, has stepped away, failed to live up to their obligations under Treaty 9. I hear time and time again, “That’s the federal responsibility.” Does this government know, would be my question, do the members of this government know that the province of Ontario is a signatory to Treaty 9? You have a contractual treaty obligation to the Indigenous people in this community, and you’re not living up to that. Where does that lead us? It leads us to conflict, which is not helpful for any industry.

I could just talk about the cautionary tales that the Conservatives should know very well. Ipperwash comes to mind. This Conservative government, Premier Mike Harris at the time, had a conflict with the Indigenous community in Ipperwash. It resulted in a death. Dudley George was shot by a sniper in Ipperwash, and it caused significant, significant bad will and a legacy of poisoned relations to this day. There was an inquiry, with recommendations that this government should take seriously.

We only have to look the Ipperwash, the Oka crisis and, currently, the Indigenous-led “land back” movement that’s happening right now in Caledonia and other communities. We need to know that this “land back” movement is real and it’s about self-determination—as it has been described by the community: “It’s about self-determination for our peoples here that should include some access to the territories and resources in a more equitable fashion, and for us to have control over how that actually looks.” If you read those words, this speaks directly to the bill that’s before us. How are we ensuring that Indigenous communities have control over development that is in their territories? It certainly is not helpful for the Premier to say he’s going to get on a bulldozer himself. That only exacerbates a difficult relationship.

I just have to say, it’s really heartbreaking to sit on this side of the House and hear our MPP from Mushkegowuk–James Bay, to hear our MPP from Kiiwetinoong talk about the lack of resources in Indigenous communities that are in Treaty 9, that are the obligation of this province, of this government.

We talked about clean drinking water that generations of young people and people have not had access to. We just heard about tragic fires. We heard about a 10-year-old girl who died in a house fire because there was no fire truck in her community. We heard about an entire family in the riding of Kiiwetinoong, including an eight-year-old boy, who died because they don’t have access to the basic necessities of fire protection. That’s a failure of this government. It doesn’t bode well going forward when you’re talking about developing in Indigenous communities.

I’d just like to make sure that you understand that, in fact, this is a significant and current problem. I have a letter here that I would like to quote from. It was sent to the federal minister, but it has bearing on what we’re doing here.

These chiefs wrote and said, “We voiced our deep concerns ... for the region we know as the Breathing Lands, in which there is a push to develop a massive mining complex in the Ring of Fire. These are the world’s lungs, and rampant mining development could not only destroy this globally critical carbon sink, but release its huge store of carbon and escalate climate change further into catastrophe. Development here would be reckless if it occurs without full, robust investigation of all the potential consequences.”

They go on to say, “We are from here and have always been here and have been the only peoples here, ever. Western ways have led us to a climate crisis, and too many Western ‘solutions’ to this crisis are being built on the further sacrifice of Indigenous peoples’ territories, rights, and futures. We will not sit on the sidelines and watch this happen in the Breathing Lands. Any attempt by the crown to come back with less than the equality we ask for and deserve ... will be seen as nothing but an attempt to dress up a broken window with pretty drapes. And any such attempt will lead to our active enforcement of the moratorium issued last April.” And they attached a copy of the moratorium.

These are strong words, and they signal conflict that this government is risking for this industry. It’s signed by the chiefs of Attawapiskat, Eabametoong, Fort Albany First Nation, Kashechewan and Neskantaga First Nations. These are nations that are operating in the area in which you’re trying to develop.

My question to this government is, are you listening? The motto of this place is “Audi alteram partem,” which means “Hear the other side.” We have significant experience, our MPP from Sudbury has significant experience in this industry. This is our job, to make government bills better, because not only is this good for investment—because good policy makes for good investment—it is what is expected of us. We are going to propose reasoned amendments to this bill in committee. Whether you take it into closed session or not—which has happened—I need everyone who is listening to know that we will be proposing amendments to improve this bill because that is our job. Our job is to protect public tax dollars and investors, to protect our environment and to protect people in their communities, and that’s what we’re here to do.

Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

Resuming the debate adjourned on March 7, 2023, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 71, An Act to amend the Mining Act / Projet de loi 71, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les mines.

It’s a very important bill that’s coming forward, because it’s going to be a very economic, important piece to the north and rural areas. And we’ve been hearing overall that the mining industry, of course, wants to develop and manufacture products, and the mining industry wants to be part of the economic opportunities that have been presented.

But there are questions and concerns around some of the pieces in this legislation, and one of those examples is that the legislation is taking away decisions from directors of the mines and giving them to the minister. That is something that’s crucial to making sure that people have trust and faith in that process.

Can you talk a little bit about why the concerns are going from the director of mines’ responsibilities and putting them in the hands of the minister?

Thank you to the member for her presentation. My question concerns First Nations consultation and accommodation. What is appropriate First Nations consultation and accommodation with mining projects such as these?

“Audi alteram partem”—hear the other side. It doesn’t sound like you were listening, because I said that we are going to be proposing amendments to this bill. This bill is at second reading; at committee, we are going to be proposing amendments, amendments that will improve this bill, amendments that will address the concerns of consultation with Indigenous First Nations, amendments that will ensure that the haphazard way in which you have gone forward with this bill doesn’t have implications for the environment and doesn’t have implications for the financial risk that’s faced not only by investors but the people and taxpayers of the province of Ontario.

But what you are failing to acknowledge is that a chunk of that time is about acquiring the financial resources that are needed to open up a mine. It costs a lot of money, and mining companies need not just their money; they need other people’s money—taxpayers and investors. What you’ve done now, instead of ensuring protection for investors, you’ve watered down the financial assurances that are required as part of just opening up and closure plans. So that is not helpful to this industry. It’s not helpful to attract investors in this industry.

What this industry needs to do is to have certainty, to have clear and transparent processes. I keep talking about investors. Investors are not going to put their money into an industry where they are just rolling the dice that the minister of the day is favourable to what they’re trying to do, because governments change, thank God, and ministers change—looking forward to it—and this is not helpful for the stability of the industry.

My question relates to the delay which has been reported in opening mines in the province of Ontario. According to the Ontario Mining Association, they have said quite clearly that it takes on average 10 to 15 years to open a mine in Ontario, and they’ve also said quite clearly that part of this delay—at least part—is due to the inordinate amount of time that it takes for getting permits, and that is the main thrust of this legislation—to speed that process up.

So my question to the member is, does the member agree with the Ontario Mining Association that it takes too long? Does the member disagree, or something else?

When we talk about sustainability, transparency and certainty, as the member opposite has highlighted, how are our investors, how are businesses and how are, in some cases, folks from other jurisdictions supposed to come here and confidently invest when it’s taking 15-plus years to open some of these mines?

We need these minerals now. We need good jobs in Ontario. Why does the opposition continue to stand in the way of that?

Let’s look back, then. I’m from North Bay. Other members may suggest it’s not north enough, but I still call it northern Ontario. North Bay had a vibrant secondary mining sector. It provided a lot of machinery and materials that were used. Under the previous government, we lost hundreds, if not thousands, of mining jobs out of North Bay, which had quite an impact on the community itself.

To say that there is investment—that investment has come because of a Progressive Conservative government that has started to make changes, has started to make smart, pragmatic changes to regulation. I hope—and I’d love to hear—will the member support this bill when it comes up for the vote at second reading?

Je suis fier de me lever ici en Chambre pour démontrer mon support au projet de loi 71, la Loi de 2023 visant l’aménagement de davantage de mines.

J’aimerais débuter par féliciter le ministre des Mines, le ministre du Développement du Nord et leurs équipes pour l’excellent travail, non seulement envers ce projet de loi mais dans plusieurs autres dossiers.

Si le projet de loi 71, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les mines—Building More Mines Act, 2023—est adopté, les changements permettront aux sociétés minières d’économiser du temps et de l’argent. L’amélioration de la Loi sur les mines créera des conditions permettant aux entreprises de construire davantage de mines tout en respectant les normes environnementales et l’obligation de consultation.

Ces mises à jour garantiront également que nous aurons les minéraux essentiels et nécessaires pour construire la chaîne d’approvisionnement des véhicules électriques et autres produits ici même en Ontario. L’Ontario possède certains des gisements les plus riches en minéraux au monde, notamment dans la région du Cercle de feu, qui abritent des minéraux essentiels utilisés dans la fabrication de véhicules électriques, de téléphones intelligents, de produits pharmaceutiques et plusieurs, plusieurs, plusieurs autres technologies.

Notre gouvernement comprend qu’il faut faire en sorte que ce soit plus facile pour les entreprises de faire affaire dans notre province.

L’Ontario a tellement à offrir. Je dois dire que je suis tellement fier de voir notre province prospérer et surtout fier de faire partie de cette équipe, sous le leadership de notre premier ministre Ford. Il faut mentionner que nous avons un ministre des Mines qui est un champion dans ce secteur, avec une multitude d’expériences dans le domaine. Je crois que nous sommes choyés à cet effet.

Vous savez, monsieur le Président, nous avons plein de champions dans notre équipe. J’en profite pour mentionner que nous avons une équipe incroyable. Tous mes collègues députés ont le même but, qui est celui d’améliorer le sort des résidents de l’Ontario. Grâce à eux, l’Ontario est vraiment sur la voie de la prospérité.

Notre gouvernement améliore la Loi sur les mines afin de créer les conditions permettant aux entreprises de construire plus de mines de manière efficace et d’aider à renforcer les chaînes d’approvisionnement en minéraux essentiels fabriqués en Ontario pour les minéraux essentiels et les véhicules électriques. Ces changements rendraient l’Ontario plus compétitif, attireraient de nouveaux investissements dans la province et ouvriraient la voie pour que l’Ontario devienne la première juridiction au monde, leader dans l’investissement et le développement miniers.

L’exploitation minière est un contributeur clé à l’économie ontarienne ainsi qu’un moteur de développement économique pour plusieurs régions. Bien que le nombre fluctue en fonction des variations des prix des matières premières, l’exploitation minière en Ontario génère des revenus d’environ 10 milliards de dollars par an.

En 2021, le secteur minier de l’Ontario a produit pour 11,1 milliards de dollars de minéraux, ce qui représentait 20 % de la valeur de la production totale du Canada. En 2021, l’exploitation minière en Ontario a directement contribué un total annuel estimé de 8 milliards de dollars au produit intérieur brut, le PIB; 2,9 milliards de dollars en salaires; et environ 75 000 emplois directs et indirects dans la province. Environ 70 % des contributions au PIB des sociétés minières de l’Ontario restent en Ontario.

Les sociétés minières de tout l’Ontario jouent un rôle important dans les communautés locales où elles opèrent et contribuent au bien-être économique et social en donnant la priorité à l’embauche et à l’approvisionnement locaux, en soutenant les initiatives de santé et d’éducation et en s’engageant et en s’associant avec les communautés des Premières Nations.

En 2021, l’emploi direct dans le secteur minier en Ontario totalisait environ 29 000, avec plus de 3,7 milliards de dollars versés en indemnisation totale aux travailleurs. Le salaire hebdomadaire moyen en Ontario pour les emplois miniers directs est supérieur de plus de 60 % au salaire industriel moyen de la province. Les travailleurs miniers gagnent en moyenne près de 2 000 $ par semaine. Ce sont de très bons revenus ici en Ontario, monsieur le Président.

Et 44 % des fournitures, des matériaux et des services sont achetés localement auprès d’entreprises ontariennes. Ça, c’est important. L’industrie minière a versé un total de 373 millions de dollars en impôts aux trois paliers de gouvernement en 2019. Évidemment, ce sont les statistiques que j’ai pu recueillir de 2019. Je ne les sais pas en 2020, mais sûrement que c’était aussi impressionnant.

Le secteur minier de l’Ontario compte l’une des plus fortes proportions de travailleurs des Premières Nations de toutes les industries de la province, à 11 %, soit près du double du pourcentage de la population canadienne qui s’identifie comme peuple de Première Nation selon les données du recensement de 2016.

En 2020, il y avait 142 accords actifs en place entre les communautés des Premières Nations et les sociétés minières de l’Ontario. C’est important de le souligner : 142 accords en place entre les sociétés et les peuples des Premières Nations ici en Ontario, et ce sont des relations mutuellement bénéfiques.

L’impact de l’exploitation minière va au-delà de l’extraction et du traitement des minéraux. L’exploitation minière est liée à de nombreuses autres industries et secteurs de l’économie, y compris le transport, la construction, la fabrication d’équipement, la gestion de l’environnement, les services géologiques, l’éducation et la recherche, entre autres.

L’industrie donne un coup de pouce majeur à notre secteur financier: la Bourse de Toronto, le TSX, est la principale bourse minière mondiale, répertoriant le plus grand nombre de sociétés minières publiques dans le monde.

D’après un rapport de recherche économique de 2022 produit par l’Ontario Mining Association en partenariat avec, à l’époque, le ministère du Développement du Nord, des Mines, des Richesses naturelles et des Forêts de l’Ontario, le secteur minier de l’Ontario prévoit que la contribution au PIB de l’industrie minière augmentera de 25 % entre 2020 et 2025, par rapport à une contribution directe totale estimée à 7,5 milliards de dollars en 2019 et 9,3 milliards de dollars prévus d’ici 2025. La valeur des minéraux produits par les principales mines de l’Ontario devrait également augmenter de 33 %, et le nombre d’emplois équivalents temps plein soutenus directement ou indirectement et induits par l’exploitation minière augmentera de près de 7 %.

Il y a actuellement 37 exploitations minières actives dans la province, qui couvrent un ensemble diversifié de métaux et de minéraux, y compris des métaux précieux et de base et des minéraux non métalliques. Dix de ces mines produisent des minéraux essentiels, notamment—on les a nommés à plusieurs reprises dans les derniers jours—le cobalt, le cuivre, l’indium, le nickel, des éléments du groupe de platine, le sélénium, le tellurium et le zinc. Il existe actuellement 16 projets miniers critiques importants en Ontario.

L’exploitation minière profite à toutes les régions de la province, offrant un large éventail de possibilités d’emploi et de partenariat. L’industrie minière de l’Ontario crée un environnement équitable, diversifié et inclusif pour les groupes historiquement sous-représentés. Des statistiques de 2016 : 13 % de la main-d’oeuvre étaient des femmes, 9 % appartenaient à des identités des personnes des Premières Nations et 6 % appartenaient à des minorités visibles. Près de 70 % des membres de l’Ontario Mining Association ont déclaré avoir des objectifs en matière de diversité et équité entre les sexes en ce qui concerne les postes d’autorité.

Il y a plus de 1 400 entreprises d’approvisionnement et de services miniers en Ontario. Et ça, c’est important de mentionner : indirectement, on a 1 400 entreprises, au minimum, qui contribuent à l’économie du secteur minier. En tant que producteurs de minéraux et de métaux qui sont des éléments clés dans la transition vers une énergie propre, les sociétés minières de toute la province adhèrent également aux normes environnementales les plus élevées en matière de conservation d’énergie, de réduction des émissions de carbone et d’adoption de technologies propres.

Plus des trois quarts des sociétés minières de l’Ontario participent à des programmes de tarification du carbone qui visent à réduire les émissions de GES et à stimuler l’innovation, et 82 % des grandes sociétés minières de l’Ontario ont établi des objectifs de réduction des émissions de carbone et 64 % ont des objectifs de gestion de l’énergie. Les sociétés minières ontariennes ont adopté des technologies propres à un taux de près de 14 % supérieur à la moyenne de l’industrie.

En 2021, 878 millions de dollars ont été investis dans l’exploration minière en Ontario. Notre gouvernement croit que nous pouvons faire mieux. Notre gouvernement est toujours en quête d’opportunités de développement économique et de créer de bons emplois pour les Ontariens. Notre gouvernement met les Ontariens en priorité.

Monsieur le Président, je dois vous dire que je suis fier de faire partie de cette équipe dirigée par le premier ministre Ford, mes collègues ministres et députés. C’est incroyable, les choses qui se font ici pour le peuple ontarien. Grâce à notre gouvernement, l’Ontario est en voie de devenir un leader mondial dans beaucoup de secteurs.

J’aimerais vous raconter une petite expérience que j’ai vécue en tant que député et adjoint parlementaire du ministre de l’Énergie. J’ai eu la chance de participer à quelques conférences ici au Canada, aux États-Unis et ailleurs dans le monde. À certaines de ces conférences, j’étais un des seuls représentants du gouvernement de l’Ontario.

Monsieur le Président, vous devriez voir l’intérêt des gens à vouloir communiquer avec moi quand ils voient ma petite étiquette, ici même, qui mentionne que je suis un représentant de l’Ontario, spécialement avec la mention « adjoint du ministre de l’Énergie de l’Ontario ». Beaucoup de représentants de plusieurs pays ont les yeux rivés sur notre province—pas juste dans le domaine de l’énergie, mais dans plusieurs autres domaines, et celui des mines n’en est pas une exception.

Je dois dire que ça n’a pas été toujours le cas. À l’époque où le Parti libéral était au pouvoir, pendant les 15 années précédant la venue de notre gouvernement—avant 2018—la province était un exemple de quoi ne pas faire en matière d’énergie et probablement dans d’autres secteurs aussi. Mais grâce à plusieurs stratégies comme celle-ci aujourd’hui, le projet de loi 71, notre gouvernement fait en sorte que notre province continue à progresser pour devenir un leader mondial dans plusieurs secteurs.

Est-ce que j’ai mentionné que je suis fier de faire partie de cette équipe? Je pense que je l’ai mentionné à quelques reprises. Nous travaillons fort. Notre gouvernement a publié l’année dernière sa stratégie sur les minéraux critiques, un plan quinquennal qui comprend la résolution des problèmes de réglementation pour que les mines soient construites plus efficacement.

Ce projet de loi visant à modifier la Loi sur les mines, si adopté, attirera davantage d’investissements dans le secteur minier de la province, tout en renforçant les chaînes d’approvisionnement en minéraux essentiels de la province pour les batteries et les véhicules électriques. Ce projet de loi pourrait faire avancer les projets miniers critiques en :

—permettant aux entreprises d’obtenir plus facilement un permis pour récupérer les minéraux des résidus miniers et des déchets;

—améliorant la planification de la fermeture en ayant plus de professionnels qualifiés disponibles pour certifier les plans;

—permettant aussi une plus grande flexibilité dans les techniques utilisées pour réhabiliter les mines une fois qu’elles sont fermées; et

—créant aussi plus d’options pour les entreprises de payer une assurance financière.

Comme mentionné par le ministre des Mines, ça ne devrait pas prendre 15 années pour ouvrir une mine. Ce processus prend trop de temps et coûte trop cher, ce qui entraîne des retards dans les projets et des opportunités perdues pour le secteur ontarien de l’exploration minière et de l’exploitation minière.

Nous devons construire. La région du Cercle de feu a un potentiel multigénérationnel pour la production de minéraux essentiels, notamment la chromite, le nickel, le cuivre et le platine nécessaires à la fabrication d’acier propre et de véhicules électriques.

Les modifications à la Loi sur les mines augmenteraient la certitude de la planification des activités et généreraient des investissements dans le nord de l’Ontario afin d’offrir d’importantes possibilités de développement économique aux collectivités du Nord et aux peuples des Premières Nations.

En ce Mois de la Francophonie, je m’en voudrais de ne pas faire une parenthèse. C’est un peu, aussi, pourquoi j’ai fait mon discours en français aujourd’hui, pendant le Mois de la Francophonie. Ça aurait été intéressant de voir les statistiques à savoir combien de francophones ont contribué au secteur minier au fil des années.

Les villes comme Sudbury, Timmins, Kirkland Lake, Elliot Lake, North Bay sont toutes des villes où l’on retrouve une concentration de francophones. Beaucoup de ces gens ont des ancêtres québécois qui sont venus ici en Ontario pour travailler dans les mines.

J’ai moi-même de la famille qui travaille ou qui a travaillé dans les mines, monsieur le Président. J’aimerais profiter de l’occasion pour les remercier pour leurs contributions dans ce secteur.

En conclusion, je suis fier de pouvoir prendre la parole ici en Chambre pour le débat sur ce projet de loi, et je remercie mes collègues du ministère des Mines—il y en a un drette ici devant moi, l’adjoint parlementaire—pour leur travail exceptionnel.

Monsieur le Président, je suis certain que les membres de l’opposition voteront en faveur de ce projet de loi. Plusieurs d’entre eux représentent des circonscriptions du nord de l’Ontario, qui sont les régions où l’on retrouve le plus de mines et d’entreprises qui bénéficient du secteur.

Mes collègues du parti de l’opposition auront sûrement de la difficulté à s’opposer à ce projet de loi. Monsieur le Président, laissez-moi vous dire, ça ne doit pas être facile de travailler en tant que membre de l’opposition. Notre gouvernement présente tellement de bons projets de loi pour améliorer le sort de notre province et aider les Ontariens à obtenir de meilleurs emplois. Ça doit tellement être difficile de voter contre toutes ces initiatives de notre gouvernement.

J’aimerais terminer en disant que moi-même, dans ma circonscription de Glengarry–Prescott–Russell—nous sommes un peu loin des régions d’exploration des mines, mais nous avons quand même une fonderie, Ivaco Rolling Mills, qui fait la fonte de métal et utilise aussi certains minéraux dans leur processus. C’est une des entreprises qui est là depuis 30 ans, puis même aujourd’hui, elles bénéficient des mines, car le métal est un des, comme on dirait, « by-products » ou sous-produits du titane qui est exploré dans des régions au Québec.

Je sais que beaucoup de gens veulent voir ces compagnies qui prospèrent depuis 30 ans rester ici, puis c’est une belle opportunité de pouvoir opérer des mines en Ontario pour pouvoir avoir ces produits-là près de nous pour pouvoir continuer de façon plus facile d’avoir le transport et d’avoir accès. Je remercie encore notre ministre des Mines pour cet excellent projet de loi, puis je le supporte à 100 %.

To the contrary, we’re not standing in the way of it; in fact, we are not at all. You are not identifying all of the core problems when it comes to opening up a mine. Financial investment is one of the key barriers. I don’t know if you’re saying we do not have a robust mining industry in Ontario. We already do; it already exists. We’re global leaders and proud of that.

People are investing in our community. They are investing in this industry because they know that there are good regulations, that there are good protections, that they’re operating in an environment that is robust and that has the kind of protections that attract investments, attract employees and skilled workers, and attract the kinds of things that we want in this province. It already exists. So it’s hard to understand why you are watering this down.

The intention is there, the intention that we all share, which is to support and improve the mining industry for the prosperity of Ontarians, but you need help with this bill to make sure that’s what happens.

I have a few people I know who work in the mining industry. Let me tell you, I don’t reach out to them often, but when I talk to them, they say that working in a mine and being part of the staff working in a mine seems like a family thing. These companies are, more than ever, investing in their people and they’re creating nice opportunities to gather all their people and do some leisure activities. I’ve learned it from people working there at the mines.

I think for that reason that the companies are, more than ever, oriented on their people, and I don’t see that as becoming a problem in the near future.

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, but in order for people to have confidence that they can build their lives in these communities that are very close to where the mines are, and raise families there, they also need to be confident that the remediation that follows has already been planned and financed, that those financial guarantees are there. Otherwise, you’re looking at very precarious—you don’t know whether you can really trust those places as places to live for the long term.

That’s my concern, and I wonder if you can speak to that.

I want to thank the member from Sault Ste. Marie for the great work he does there. It’s the steel manufacturing capital of northern Ontario and increasingly for mining. Thanks for your work, Ross; I appreciate it.

Mr. Speaker, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada hosts the largest global mining conference the world over, and no doubt for sure our Minister of Mines has been very busy. But there’s an important narrative developing on the floor of PDAC, and it’s through the Northern Ontario Mining Showcase. It narrates a story about what’s really happening on the ground in northern Ontario, the need for northern Ontario development—investments that are targeted at companies in the service and supply sector. They don’t just work in mining; they work across resources. But they tell a story, an exciting one at that, about how our businesses are transforming our communities with real economic support, promoting Ontario’s northern development.

And since it’s International Women’s Day, Mr. Speaker, maybe I’ll take this opportunity to highlight and showcase an announcement I made where the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, Vale and Laurentian University joined together to support the Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corp.

Under the leadership of Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk, they’re going to be engaging in biotech, biomining and bioremediation. This is an exciting technology being done in Sudbury for the benefit of mining across northern Ontario. We’re excited to support it, and I hope one day the member from Sudbury will actually get up and support the investments that we make in northern Ontario, Mr. Speaker, especially—

I wasn’t sure if my colleagues across the aisle were going to finish their time or not, but I’m glad to start off the afternoon session and just say it really is a pleasure to be able to rise today and of course speak to another great government bill, Bill 71, the Building More Mines Act.

When introducing the Building More Mines Act, the Minister of Mines hit the nail on the head when he explained this bill and why it was being introduced. Quite frankly, it should not take 15 years to build and open a mine. The process to open and close a mine is too time-consuming and costly. This has led to project delays and lost opportunities for Ontario’s mineral exploration and mining sector. At a time when Ontario is securing game-changing investments in its growing automotive sector, we have to do better. If passed, these changes would benefit the entire mineral sector and advance Ontario’s plan to build an integrated supply chain. We will integrate the supply chain by connecting mineral producers in the north, including those in the Ring of Fire, with the manufacturing sector in the south.

As many of you know, I was first elected to this House in 2018, but I have been around provincial politics for pretty much my entire life. I know that the government often must clean up the mess of the one that came before—and no, I’m not referring to the Harris-Eves government, following Bob Rae’s adventures with four-day workweeks. But I am talking about the years of neglect that the mining sector faced under the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals. So I’ll be taking a few minutes to highlight their lowlights on the mining file and their mistreatment of northern Ontario overall.

Although I am a proud resident of Kitchener–Conestoga, many of you will know that I grew up in the beautiful town of North Bay. North Bay is about three and a half, four hours north of here, and it relies very, very heavily on the mining sector and forestry sector to provide good jobs for its residents. North Bay has roughly about 50,000 people nowadays, and it has gone through several challenges. We’ve seen what happened under the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals—it drove great jobs out of North Bay. It’s very unfortunate, because that has such a big, we’ll just say, ancillary bearing on a lot of the other things that happen.

When we lose good jobs in the mining sector in North Bay and other communities around northern Ontario, it has a profound impact on the commercial sector, on housing, and all kinds of different things.

I want to give a quick example that really demonstrated the Wynne Liberals’ approach to the mining sector. I’m going to quote a few things here, Madam Speaker. The following exchange took place during the pre-budget consultation in 2013—we’ll just paraphrase out of here, so I hope it’s okay, and the Clerks will correct me, I’m sure. These members are no longer members in the House anymore, so I think I can use their names, but I guess we’ll find out shortly.

Mr. Norm Miller was speaking here: “You mentioned the mining tax. What specifically did you say about the mining tax?”

In response, Ms. Soo Wong, who was a member as well—and this is as part of the McGuinty-Wynne government—said, “We have one of the lowest in all of Canada.”

Mr. Miller responded, “So you want to raise the mining tax—”

And Ms. Wong said, “Absolutely.” Even though we had one of the lowest mining tax rates in Canada, she wanted to raise it to be able to pay for a lot of their other “projects” that they had under way. My colleagues in the Liberal benches must be saying, “Well, that was 2013. That’s not us anymore.” Fair enough, but again, she was approved as a candidate. This was someone who wanted to raise the mining taxes to some of the most exorbitant in Canada. She was a candidate under former Liberal leader Steven Del Duca in the last provincial election.

We can look at some more recent examples. In the fall of 2017, months before the Liberals lost power, another member made comments that truly angered northern Ontario. Some of you may remember this. I know the member from Nepean will probably remember this very well. There was a headline that appeared in BayToday.ca. The headline was “Do We Live In ‘No Man’s Land?’”

“During a speech by Parry Sound–Muskoka MPP Norm Miller on the north, Lou Rinaldi”—

To be fair here, let’s also tell Lou’s side of the story, which I think is kind of interesting. His excuse for the heckling was that he was speaking to the now current Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. But there was just one problem with his comments: The minister formerly known as MPP Fedeli had left the room several minutes before the heckling. Unsurprisingly, the excuse didn’t help.

The following quotes came from a great mayor of North Bay and also a former member of this House, AL McDonald—just like the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, one of North Bay’s greatest mayors:

“I understand in the heat of debate in the Legislature and life, sometimes things are said that shouldn’t be said. I also believe it’s the solution to the problem that defines us. Make no mistake, your comments may have damaged northern Ontario’s brand.

“MPP Lou Rinaldi, we work hard to promote our city and northern Ontario as a great place to live, raise a family. We try every day to attract business/industry, retain our youth and promote our region.

“It’s a challenge all of us face here in building our northern cities and northern Ontario. Comments like this are a kick in the teeth for all of us that believe in our region.”

I wholeheartedly agree, and quite frankly, it didn’t go well.

Let’s see if he had better luck the next day the Legislature sat. I know we’re all waiting on pins and needles to find out what happened.

The Liberal MPP was then disciplined by the Speaker the following Monday after apparently—again, some of the members may remember member Rinaldi saying, “Maybe we should take it outside,” to talk a little bit more about what was going on in the House.

So here we are again with the Liberals being very out of touch with what is happening in northern Ontario.

Thank you to the member from Kitchener–Conestoga for his presentation—I have to admit I’ve never been so excited about the mining industry until what I’ve heard today.

Could you provide us an overview of the top five changes that we can anticipate and what the goal is, what we’re looking to achieve, with this act?

Thank you to the member from Kitchener–Conestoga for his comments.

He started out his comments by saying that an open-pit mine shouldn’t take 15 years, but a lot of what’s being addressed in this bill is hard rock mining. I’m just learning about all this myself, but 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; the communications from your party seem to suggest that it wasn’t.

I’m wondering how, specifically, this bill allows a mine to be open in less than 15 years.

Thank you to the member from Kitchener–Conestoga for his very thoughtful information.

Ontario has a responsibility to expand on the critical mining industry. We were talking about the 10 to 15 years for approval of a project, but that’s before a shovel starts to dig.

Given the future of our province, the jobs, the global positioning, will the member from Kitchener–Conestoga comment on what this act will do to ensure we are the number one jurisdiction for mining globally?

I thank the member from Brantford–Brant for the question. We did support that bill to expedite the development of the battery factory in St. Thomas. The big concern that we have is that governments in Ontario, governments in Alberta—Conservative governments in particular—do not have a good record of enforcing regulations so that mining companies leave the site clean and safe for local communities.

In Alberta, for example, they’ve got 170,000 abandoned oil wells that the taxpayer is now on the hook for cleaning up and sealing. We don’t want the communities to be left with a toxic mess and we don’t want the taxpayers to be left with millions or billions of dollars in cleanup costs. That should be part of the operation. That’s the concern we have.

The government has not created trust in their ability to be stewards of the environment for future generations.

Thank you to the MPP for Spadina–Fort York. I want to pick up a little bit on the theme that this Conservative government has not built confidence or trust when it comes to the environment. With this bill, they are actually undermining trust in this mining industry, particularly when it comes to the idea of watering down financial requirements.

You talked about a mine—was it Iamgold?

It’s an honour to rise to participate in second reading of Bill 71.

I want to be very clear to everyone watching today: Mining is going to play a critical role in Ontario having a competitive advantage in the fast-growing climate economy. We need critical minerals that are mined in a sustainable, ethical way. We need to have a mining-to-manufacturing supply chain not only to build electric vehicles but to also build renewable energy generation, battery storage, micro-grids, electrified public transit. Critical minerals are going to play a vital role, so I want to say to the government, let’s not be hostile to renewable energy anymore. Let’s have this Critical Minerals Strategy be a part of building low-cost renewable energy and resilient grids.

I also want to say to government—and I said this to the Liberals when they were in power—if we’re going to avoid delays in developing the Ring of Fire, then two key critical things need to happen. One is a comprehensive, sustainable land use planning system in place ahead of time to minimize environmental damage and to ensure that we mine in a both fiscally and environmentally sustainable way; and, two, that we work with Indigenous communities to ensure that there’s free, informed and prior consent in the development of mining projects and that we work with those mining companies—and I have met with them—who want to have Indigenous equity ownership as part of mining development in the north.

We can do this. Sudbury’s already leading the way globally in developing sustainable mining practices, especially if you look at places like the mining innovation centre in Sudbury—

One is the phased financial assurances plan that’s in the bill. There can be very good reasons why you would phase that in, but we need to do it in a way that protects Ontario taxpayers. The 2015 Auditor General report says there’s $3.1 billion worth of liabilities of abandoned mines to the people of Ontario. Let’s avoid that in this legislation, moving forward, to protect taxpayers.

And the second one is through the deferred closure plans. Again, I can see the rationale to have flexibility in closure plans, but we need to ensure that those are approved by an independent third party, not by mining companies themselves, to avoid a conflict of interest. So let’s fix that at committee, Speaker.

We need to ensure that the financial assurances system protects the taxpayers of Ontario. According to the Auditor General, we have $3.1 billion in abandoned mining liability; some estimate that’s as high as $7.6 billion now. So we need to ensure that the system is set up in a way to protect the people of Ontario.

And secondly, deferring closure plans: I can understand why we would need flexibility there, but the approval should be done by an independent third party, not by the mining companies themselves.

So I would ask for those changes at committee.

I appreciate the member’s question. Actually, it has been well documented that environmental regulations not only improve communities, like what we’ve seen in Sudbury, but, most of the time, it improves the company’s bottom line. Most of the best fiscally run companies also comply with environmental regulations and have strong environmental and social goals. The reason is because if you are going to manage your ESG goals well, you’re likely going to manage your financial goals well. The two go hand in hand. We’ve seen that.

Sudbury now is seen as a global leader in sustainable mining practices. Everything from electrifying mining equipment to re-mining tailing ponds—there are a whole host of opportunities that, if we have the proper regulations in place, we can be economically competitive in and be a beacon to the world around sustainable mining practices.

I think it’s a false narrative to say that we don’t need regulations or that we need to overregulate. We need smart regulations that protect the public, the environment and the people of this province.