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Chrystia Freeland’s second budget as finance minister proposes billions of dollars in new spending to incentivize more mining of critical minerals through investments in infrastructure, tax credits for exploration, and funding to help attract the downstream industries that turn those minerals into products such as electric vehicles and battery cells.

Critical minerals include not only the lithium, nickel and cobalt used in batteries, but a far wider array of elements, from copper to manganese. The budget proposes allocating at least $3.8 billion in cash, plus more in tax credits, between now and 2030, to develop a supply chain of critical minerals. Whether that investment sounds like too much money, or far too little, depends on how you view the threats posed by climate change and the urgency of the energy transition.

Much of the strategy outlined in the budget hinges on the idea that creating a supply chain will help attract industrial investment to Canada, and thus boost future economic growth. To that end, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government would spend up to $1.5 billion by 2030 on the infrastructure needed to get those materials from the ground to factories.

Read more at: https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/how-trudeau-proposes-to-make-canada-a-key-supplier-of-critical-minerals