{"id":16874,"date":"2025-06-26T17:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T17:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/16874\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T17:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T17:42:12","slug":"how-canadas-critical-minerals-push-may-spur-hundreds-of-thousands-of-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/16874\/","title":{"rendered":"How Canada\u2019s critical minerals push may spur hundreds of thousands of jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada may have barely scratched the surface when it comes to mining<\/a> critical minerals<\/a>, and a new report suggests developing those resources could potentially create thousands of new jobs and help bolster the Canadian economy amid trade disruptions with the United States.<\/p>\n

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From electric vehicles<\/a> to infrastructure and housing development, plus a new commitment by the federal government to increase defence spending to meet new NATO targets<\/a>, demand for critical minerals is expected to continue to rise, and more job creation will likely be a part of that expansion.<\/p>\n

Bill C-5<\/a> is also a major action plan by the federal government to speed up projects that support Canada\u2019s economic expansion, including for critical minerals.<\/p>\n

The latest report<\/a> by the non-profit group Battery Metals Association of Canada outlines priorities for projects in mining and processing critical minerals, like copper, lithium and nickel.<\/p>\n

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The BMAC says in its study that increasing economic productivity, especially in critical minerals, will lead to \u201cinnovation potential and high-paying jobs\u201d while supporting local communities. That comes as the new NATO spending target is expected to see members of the military alliance spend 3.5 per cent of their GDPs on defence<\/a> and 1.5 per cent more on infrastructure to support defence needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first glance, it seems like that 1.5 per cent would really be well spent on critical battery minerals that are going to increase our geotech, political resilience and our energy security in an era of geopolitical competition,\u201d said Bentley Allan, a principal at the The Transition Accelerator \u2014 one of the key groups contributing to the report.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think that there\u2019s a real opportunity here to build out these defence metals. Most of the metals that we looked at in this report were focused on that battery value chain, but we also have broader work at the transition accelerator on tungsten and zinc and other things that have direct military applications<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really hitting on a couple of different important national agendas with this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney has ambitions to invest<\/a> in the Canadian economy and develop the nation into an \u201cenergy superpower\u201d<\/a> that is less reliant on others, including the U.S.<\/p>\n

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He has vowed to do this by working to remove interprovincial trade barriers and labour mobility issues, in addition to funding new projects and developments<\/a> \u2014 including in the mining sector to support growing international demand.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the G7, all of the countries said they wanted to buy Canadian critical minerals,\u201d said Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, speaking at an event in Toronto on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt NATO, what the prime minister is hearing is that all of those countries want to buy our critical minerals \u2014 this is an opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allan said in Western Canada, \u201cI think we should be looking at $25 billion of mining investment, which would create about 100,000 really good quality jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs many as 10,000 of those jobs could be Indigenous jobs as well, especially in northern B.C., the Northwest Territories and Yukon, and we need their work in order to make this country as great as it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

That number of potential jobs mirrors predictions from the federal government\u2019s Critical Minerals Strategy, which suggests developing Canada\u2019s critical minerals will create and support \u201chundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs across the country.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey include, but are not limited to, geoscientists, mining engineers, and metallurgists, workers skilled in computer technology, heavy equipment operation, emerging technologies like AI and automation, minerals processing, and automotive assembly,\u201d that federal strategy says.<\/p>\n

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