LINKING B.C.’s CLEAN ECONOMY TO CANADA’S CRITICAL MINERALS INITIATIVE (2026)

Issue

British Columbia plays a strategic, almost irreplaceable role in Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy because of its geology, geography, infrastructure, and global positioning.[1] 

B.C. is rich in many of the minerals essential for clean technology and advanced manufacturing, including copper (critical for electrification and EVs), molybdenum, nickel, gold, and silver (important for electronics and financial resilience). Copper is especially important, as B.C. is one of Canada’s top producers. The province’s Pacific coast gives Canada a major advantage in direct shipping routes to other key markets like Japan, South Korea, and China.158F

In addition, B.C. has an established mining ecosystem, a clean energy advantage, proximity to U.S. supply chains, strong Indigenous partnerships, Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) leadership and untapped mining exploration potential.

Therefore, for B.C., Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy cannot be viewed only as a mining strategy. It is a national industrial and clean-economy strategy designed to build resilient value chains. While equipped with most of the critical minerals the federal government has identified, the province’s regional advantage lies in processing, systems integration, commercialization, and services.

The Strategy creates practical, near-term economic opportunities for B.C. businesses, even in the absence of direct mining activity, by focusing on downstream value creation, clean technology, EV systems, and advanced manufacturing.

Background

The Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy is the federal government’s long-term roadmap to position Canada as a global supplier of responsibly sourced critical minerals. These essential materials are used in clean technology, digital industries, and modern manufacturing. The Strategy was released in December 2022 with significant federal support behind it and guides decision-making across the entire mineral value chain - from exploration and extraction to processing and recycling - with an aim to grow Canada’s competitiveness and secure supply chains for key technologies.[2]

The Strategy is built around five key objectives that reflect economic, environmental, and social priorities:

1. Supporting Economic Growth, Competitiveness & Job Creation by enhancing industry capacity and investment across value chains.
2. Promoting Climate Action & Environmental Protection by integrating responsible mining with climate commitments and safeguarding ecosystems.
3. Advancing Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, by ensuring Indigenous participation, partnership, and benefit in critical minerals development.
4. Fostering a diverse & inclusive workforce by expanding opportunities and skills training in mining, processing, and related sectors.
5. Enhancing global security & strategic partnerships by strengthening supply chain resilience with allied countries and global partners.

These objectives are implemented through a whole-of-government approach, involving collaboration with provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, industry leaders, and international partners. The Investment Backbone of the Strategy is backed by nearly $3.8 billion in federal funding allocated in Budgets 2021–22 to support exploration, processing, innovation, and value chain development.[3]

This means the biggest opportunities for B.C. are downstream and midstream, where the province already excels:

• Clean technology and applied innovation
• Advanced manufacturing and industrial services
• Engineering, professional services, and logistics
• R&D, testing, commercialization, and scale-up

The following reflects a high-level view of the opportunity for the province:[4]

The Chamber Recommends

That the Provincial and Federal Governments:

1. Formally recognize B.C. as a Clean Economy and industrial services region within Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy and adopt a place-based funding model that recognizes regional/provincial economic strengths, rather than one-size-fits-all national strategies and programs.
2. Establish a B.C. SME readiness and matchmaking fund to help small and medium sized businesses enter cleantech, EV, and critical-minerals value chains.
3. Create and expand provincial and federal programs that explicitly support downstream and midstream activities (processing, advanced manufacturing, systems integration, commercialization) in urban centres in the province that are connected to Critical Minerals mining.
4. Institutionalize business advisory input through local organizations such as Chambers, Boards of Trade and business associations in the design and rollout of Clean Economy Programs for SMEs.
5. Accelerate Permitting for Clean Economy Projects.