SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Member of Parliament

Charlie Angus

  • Member of Parliament
  • NDP
  • Timmins—James Bay
  • Ontario
  • Voting Attendance: 63%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $134,227.44

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 250 - Nov/9/23
Mr. Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay, NDP)
  • Nov/9/23 3:36:35 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-34 
Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest to my hon. colleague on the issue of critical minerals as I represent Timmins—James Bay, which has some of the greatest base metal and critical mineral deposits anywhere. There is a number of issues that we need to face in Canada in terms of being able to compete in this fast-moving energy transformation. Number one is making sure that that supply chain is able to benefit our economy. We know that other international economies are desperate to get metals. The other issue is strategic. That is about whether or not we put a lens of sustainability on, for example, metals like cobalt and lithium that are controlled by China and that are being exploited in really brutal conditions, for example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We need to actually have a supply chain that says we can do it sustainability, that we can do it with good jobs, that we can do it with investment, and that we can do it to build up a Canadian-North American economy, as opposed to simply going to the bottom line of what is happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Chinese control and horrific human rights abuses. I would like to hear what my hon. colleague has to say on that.
223 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
Context: House Hansard - 170 - Mar/21/23
Mr. Charlie Angus
  • Mar/21/23 11:41:07 a.m.
  • Watch
Madam Speaker, we certainly need to have a fair playing field, and one of them is the rights of indigenous people to participate in resource development and the right to say no. We cannot have armed gangs, threats and intimidation, like we saw with the horrific allegations against Hudbay Minerals in Guatemala. There has to be legal accountability for such measures. In Canada, for example, the Ring of Fire, could be a massive benefit, economically, but the Neskantaga First Nation, which has gone 28 years without clean drinking water, has not been consulted by anybody on this. This is highly problematic. We have the opportunity in Canada to create a standard for the development of critical minerals by using high environmental standards, indigenous consent, indigenous support, and we cannot allow that to be weakened. This should be the Canada brand that allows us to meet the challenges of an environmentally sensitive future. We need to be pushing for this.
159 words
All Topics
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border