A friend of mine, now conducting mineral exploration in the southwestern United States, made some alarming statements regarding President Trump’s recent tariffs and potential annexation of Canada. He had just attended the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, which he described as “dead” regarding mineral investment. He also stated that people in southern Canada are very frightened of the Trump administration, and that the threat to annex Greenland is real. Although Trump’s tariffs are broadcast on nationwide TV, they are far less prominent in Americans’ minds than on Canadians’.
At this time, Trump’s tariffs are a major existential threat to Canada’s well-being. Trump’s objective is to cripple Canada’s economy, gradually swaying our public opinion towards favouring annexation in order to improve our economic condition. Degradation of Canada to a 51st state (if we would actually be given “state” status) is another existential threat, but would occur further in the future, although possibly not by much.
Canada has undergone declining productivity for at least a decade, affecting our standard of living, increasing our deficit spending and our debt-to-GDP ratio. Federal and provincial governments have rightfully acknowledged the need to mitigate these effects. The need to erase interprovincial trade barriers is already well acknowledged, as well as reorientation of Canada’s infrastructure from north-south to east-west.
The problem is, the age of grand infrastructure programs is over. The Trans-Canada Highway was completed in 1971, 54 years ago, and since then only a handful of major projects have been undertaken. Currently, large projects are typically abandoned or permanently stalled by excessive bureaucracy, outcries by community or special interest groups, NIMBYism and a crippling slowdown on permit processing.
This is highly apparent in the Yukon, particularly concerning placer and quartz exploration and mining projects. Yukon is endowed with significant resources of numerous critical minerals, mainly for clean energy and devices, and also including “strategic minerals” having military applications. However, all mining-related projects of any size require permitting.
Permitting processes include timelines for completion, as well as specific periods, or “windows” for public comment for significant projects. These timelines are commonly extended significantly. Any dedicated NGO or special interest group can lobby against a project and influence public opinion, resulting in de-facto veto potential.
In recent years, the permitting process has become effectively stalled. As recently as 2012, a Class 3 mineral exploration permit could be acquired in four months. Today, you need at least ten months to get a Class 3 permit, and many Class 1 permits can take up to eight months, if successful. It took eight months to build the Alaska Highway – in 1942. To be fair, the Alaska Highway was built under wartime conditions, following the Pearl Harbour attack. We are in a similar economic war footing now. Our economic conditions and standard of living are threatened, and may become significantly degraded.
To counteract this, we need to maximize our economic potential, through rapid improvements in national and territorial infrastructure, and expedited permitting timelines to enable projects that can enrich the economies of Yukon and Canada to commence. This can and must be done while incorporating First Nation treaty rights, but it must be expedited. To be successful we all need to think of ourselves as Canadians, and act as a united people of a single nation.
A stronger economy with fast-tracked permitting will help Canada remain sovereign. It will help resist the designs and whims of President Trump and his increasingly hostile and bullying inner circle of government, whose goal is eventual annexation of our nation.
We need to get on with it.
Carl Schulze
Vice President, Yukon Prospectors Association
Whitehorse
