National Defence

This House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence meeting, held on February 23, 2026, studied the nexus between national defence, national security, and the critical minerals sector. Appearing as witnesses were Hudson Lester, General Manager of the Nunavut, NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines; Photinie Koutsavlis, Vice-President of Economic Affairs and Climate Change at the Mining Association of Canada; Michael Gullo, Vice-President of Policy at the Business Council of Canada; and Jeff Gaulin, Vice-President of Corporate Affairs at Vale Base Metals.

Hudson Lester testified that infrastructure for mining—ports, roads, power, and communications—is also Arctic sovereignty and defence infrastructure, and that energy security in Nunavut is national security. He said Canada must look beyond simple ownership of critical minerals to long-term control through offtake agreements and financing, and that northern projects need year-round infrastructure and domestic processing to be reliable for NATO allies. He noted that it takes about 14 years to create a mine in Nunavut due to regulatory duplication and called for streamlining, a north-of-60 mineral tax credit to offset costs that are two to two-and-a-half times higher, and for northern infrastructure not to be separated from security infrastructure.

Photinie Koutsavlis said Canada produces more than 60 minerals and metals but has seen production declines in key defence commodities like copper and nickel over the past decade, and has lost multiple smelting and refining facilities. She argued that Budget 2025 introduced useful tools like the critical minerals sovereign fund and changes to the clean technology manufacturing investment tax credit, but that the tax credit is of minimal value for brownfield expansions because qualifying expenses are much lower at existing mine sites. She recommended expanding the Canadian exploration expense to cover technical and feasibility studies to de-risk early-stage projects, and said the priority now is implementing budget measures quickly, accelerating project approvals, and strengthening infrastructure.

Michael Gullo said Canada can be a primary supplier of critical minerals to NATO allies, as it produces or refines 10 of the 12 minerals NATO considers defence-critical, but faces challenges including lagging infrastructure investment, long project lead times, and labour disruptions. He recommended creating a national trade infrastructure strategy, streamlining approvals toward a “one project, one assessment” model, and developing a critical mineral reserve for niche defence metals where supply is fragile. He noted that Canada has the third-longest lead time in the world for mining projects according to S&P Global, and that Canada’s innovation policy requires improvement, with less than 1.5% of global patent filings.

Jeff Gaulin stated that Canadian critical minerals are indispensable to the Canadian Armed Forces, NORAD, and NATO, and that nickel, copper, and cobalt are mission-critical to Arctic sovereignty. He said Canada must move with greater urgency to extract more minerals from existing brownfield mines, noting that Vale Base Metals had to import 16,000 tonnes of nickel to feed its Sudbury refineries despite mining 80,000 tonnes in Canada last year. He recommended expanding the investment tax credit to include mine development expenses for brownfield mines, arguing this would be the fastest and most capital-efficient way to increase output, and suggested that Canadian critical mineral content be required in allied defence procurement clubs like the SAFE agreement with Europe.

The committee then debated and adopted a motion to invite the Parliamentary Budget Officer to appear as soon as possible to discuss his reports on NATO commitments, and a motion to invite the National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman to appear as soon as possible to discuss his report on the Primary Reserve. A motion to invite the Minister of National Defence to appear for two hours on the Defence Industrial Strategy was adopted, with an agreement that the committee’s study on francophone and indigenous members of the Canadian Armed Forces would be prioritized next. A motion to invite the Minister of National Defence and officials to appear on Supplementary Estimates (C) was also adopted, with the first hour for the minister and officials and the second hour for officials alone.