As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

That the Government of Canada, in collaboration with Indigenous communities, various stakeholders in Canadian industry, and the provinces and territories, and while respecting their jurisdiction and their own strategies, file right now a critical minerals strategy that will namely:

• position Canada as a leader in supplying critical minerals and reduce the dominance of any one country in this chain;
• secure critical mineral supply chains including, but not limited to, within the context of national security;
• ensure reliable and ongoing access to critical minerals for the development of advanced technologies;
• stimulate timely development of the Canadian mining sector by addressing the urgent need to improve implementation of the Impact Assessment Process to avoid developing the perception that Canada is an unpredictable and slow destination for mining and other investment, and supporting exploration in higher cost areas;
• lead to comprehensive consultations in identifying barriers and red tape to ensure that a national critical mineral strategy is developed in the lens of stimulating timely development of the Canadian mining sector by reducing regulatory barriers and supporting exploration in higher cost areas; while also considering national security, economic and environmental implications;
• establish an intermediate processing sector;
• establish a mineral recycling sector and continuously maintain and enhance natural capital and optimize resource performance through attention to material and energy flow, including promoting the adoption of the circular economy;
• build on the objectives established as part of the critical and strategic mineral strategies of the provinces and territories;
• promote scientific innovation and develop technologies that will ensure the resilience and security of critical minerals and materials supply chains, without relying on resources and processing from authoritarian countries;
• catalyze and support private sector adoption of a national sustainable capacity for critical minerals and the materials supply chain;
• leverage the strengths of each Canadian region in building an advanced technology value chain;
• support the rapidly evolving Canadian automotive sector;
• strengthen the lithium-ion battery industry within the battery value chain for electric and intelligent transportation; and
• strive to complete and release a comprehensive critical minerals strategy before December 31, 2022, and if that timeline is not met, that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, alongside relevant departmental officials, should appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology for at least two hours to provide an update on the status and development of this strategy.

Recommendation 2

That the government establish an interdepartmental committee to develop innovative, more flexible and effective regulations and create a predictable environment for mining companies, while taking into account provincial jurisdiction and the goal of reducing bureaucracy.  And that, in this exercise, the Committee examine the opportunity to better align environmental requirements to eliminate duplication.

Recommendation 3

That the Government of Canada ensure that the Critical Battery Minerals Centre of Excellence be established near mining communities that have university- and college-level expertise in this field, and that the Centre increase the research and development capacity in this sector and promote the transition from ideation to commercial use.

Recommendation 4

That the Government of Canada introduce major incentives to:

• support critical minerals exploration to ensure a larger supply of critical minerals for clean technology manufacturing;
• support the energy transition of its economy to use clean technologies;
• improve supply chain infrastructure to make it more sustainable and climate resilient; and
• greatly increase the funding for basic and applied research for universities and colleges near regions where critical minerals are mined.

Recommendation 5

That the Government of Canada, in cooperation with the territories and provinces, increase its capacity to carry out geoscience work, particularly in rural, remote, and northern regions, to:

• establish an accurate inventory of available reserves in order to better understand the physical environment and geological potential in order to establish appropriate conservation measures;
• develop the necessary infrastructure for mining in key areas with a particular focus on addressing the longstanding infrastructure deficit that makes Canada’s North one of the most expensive places to mine in the world; and
• support the development of these minerals as quickly as possible, while taking into account rigorous social and environmental standards and the priorities of local communities.

Recommendations 6

That the Government of Canada, in collaboration with various stakeholders in the region, including researchers, workers, unions and mining companies, provide incentives to ensure that the development of a new mine supports sustainable use of the land by encouraging intermediate processing companies to set up near the resource in order to establish a mining industry in the affected region, which will lead to the creation of a corridor of prosperity in those regions, including the creation of roads and the development of cellular and Internet services, government services in these regions and electricity infrastructure, which will ensure long-term prosperity for these regions.

Recommendation 7

That the Government of Canada, in its discussions with the United States, focus on commonalities and especially on Canada’s supply of critical minerals and ensure that U.S. policies reflect the North American market:

• for automobiles and other types of electric vehicles such as buses, heavy trucks, mining trucks, snowmobiles, boats and so on and their integrated manufacturing ecosystem, including the harmonization of electric vehicles incentives;
• for the electric transportation sector and the integrated lithium-ion battery manufacturing ecosystem; and
• for the supply of critical minerals in the value chains of other industries, including computer technologies, semiconductors and optical sensors, and in support of food security for crop production.

Recommendation 8

That the Government of Canada work with its international partners and allies to diversify global supply and ensure that best practices for sustainable mining and processing are adopted.

Recommendation 9

That the Government of Canada introduce initiatives to encourage Indigenous peoples to fully participate in developing the mining sector, not only in exploration work but throughout the value chain of advanced technologies involving critical minerals.

Recommendation 10

That the Government of Canada inform the INDU Committee of any changes to its investments in Canada’s critical and strategic minerals strategy in a detailed quarterly report, listing each program, all funding recipients, the province, the date the funds were allocated and the amount of funding allocated.