Submissions & Consultations

Government recognizing that major project decision-making processes are often complicated, duplicative, and excessively time-consuming is a positive step forward; the lead time from discovery through building a new mine in Canada averages over 25 years, nearly the longest of any other mining nation, with permitting widely regarded as the primary cause of these extended timelines. PDAC is encouraged to see commitments in the Discussion Paper aimed at addressing some of these structural inadequacies. The included recommendations are intended to better align these commitments to the realities of the mineral exploration and development sector.

The mineral industry and infrastructure are closely tied, though only 24% of land available for claim staking in Canada is within 10 km of an existing road. Unlike many other industries, mineral explorers and miners have very little choice in determining where they can operate; exploration and development projects exist where economic mineral resources are discovered. 

PDAC recommends: ensuring that mineral supply chains are explicitly represented in corridor designations; that mineral industry representatives are included on the proposed trade corridors advisory group; that the “Tell us once” system is designed to accommodate technical and environmental data and is not limited to commercial or administrative information; that infrastructure and transportation needs are distinguished from project impact assessments; that approvals for low-impact remote access infrastructure are streamlined; and, that specific attention is paid to the service reliability and access terms available to mineral producers.

Recommendation 1

Under the Federal Sustainable Development Act, every three years, the Government of Canada undergoes a public reporting and renewal of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS). Implemented through governmental departments, the FSDS establishes high-level goals and implementation strategies that reflect the Government of Canada's sustainable development priorities. Under the proposed 2026 – 2029 FSDS, the three focuses of Canada’s sustainable development are: Building an Inclusive and Resilient Society, Driving Sustainable Growth, and Protecting our Environment and Well-Being. 

PDAC’s submission highlights how Canada’s clean growth ambitions depend on a competitive minerals sector that can supply the materials needed for clean technologies. PDAC encourages sustainable development by supporting balanced, evidence-based policies that protect the environment while ensuring responsible access to land, capital, and opportunities for mineral exploration and development. 

Following the policy decision announced in Budget 2025, the federal government released draft legislative proposals on January 29, 2026, to amend the Canadian Exploration Expense (CEE) purpose test by replacing “quality” with “inherent natural qualities”. The change is intended to prevent the potential effect of a BC Supreme Court ruling that found expenses incurred to evaluate economic viability through advanced technical studies should qualify as CEE.

PDAC submitted a commentary raising several concerns with the proposed amendments. At a broader level, the changes run counter to the government’s 2025 election commitment to expand CEE eligibility to include technical and feasibility studies and fail to address the well-recognized financing gap between exploration and mine construction - the stage where projects require significant technical and engineering work but cannot currently access flow-through share funding. At a more technical level, the amendments may also increase interpretive uncertainty by introducing the new term “inherent natural qualities”, which is not clearly defined and differs from the terminology used in the accompanying explanatory notes.

PDAC welcomes the ongoing efforts by Fisheries and Oceans Canada to improve regulatory efficiencies through amendments to Authorizations Concerning Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Regulations (Authorizations Regulations) under the Fisheries Act. 

PDAC supports efforts to reduce regulatory burden by aligning authorization and information requirements to project risk and type, and delaying financial guarantees to the post-approval pre-construction stage of project development. PDAC advises caution regarding expanded grounds for the Minister to amend an authorization, emphasizing the importance of clear terms and replicable and predictable applications of these powers. Finally, DFO must actively coordinate with other regulators, federally and provincially, to determine communities of interest and the scope and scale of consultation. 

Through Private Member’s Bill C-226, the National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice Act, the Government of Canada committed to advancing environmental justice and addressing racial discrimination in environmental decision-making. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) launched a national consultation to gather input from communities, Indigenous Peoples, industry, and other stakeholders on how to prevent and address environmental inequities, particularly where certain groups face disproportionate exposure to pollution, environmental hazards, or climate-related risks. 

Advancing environmental equity means ensuring that those affected have the knowledge, resources, and mechanisms needed to participate meaningfully in environmental governance. This submission builds on PDAC’s previous input on the Right to a Healthy Environment under CEPA, reflecting continuity in our focus on evidence-based policy, responsible resource development, and proactive engagement.

PDAC submitted a response to Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada's ongoing engagement on the renewal of Consultation and Accommodation - Guidelines for Federal Officials to Fulfill the Duty to Consult. PDAC's recommendations emphasized that this renewal is an opportunity to clarify government, Indigenous community, and proponent roles and expectations when the Duty to Consult is triggered, and to have a material impact on improving project development timelines in Canada. The proposed policy statements must therefore be written to ensure clarity, predictability, and proportionality while advancing Indigenous rights and maintaining efficient approvals for economic development activities. 

The Sustainable Jobs Action Plan is a federal initiative designed to guide Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy while ensuring workers, communities, and industries can adapt and thrive. It stems from the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act, which committed the federal government to developing five-year action plans that align economic growth with climate objectives. PDAC’s submission outlines urgent actions needed to secure the workforce and conditions required for a thriving mineral exploration ecosystem. The submission highlights the severe and accelerating shortage of geoscientists in Canada, underscored by declining enrolment and graduation rates in mining and geology programs, and calls for targeted federal measures to rebuild this talent pipeline. 

Transport Canada undertook efforts to modernize regulations under the Canadian Navigable Waters Act. PDAC supports many of Transport Canada’s proposed updates and provided additional recommendations to help reduce regulatory burdens and clarify existing processes, including: clearly defining activities and impacts, exclusion of smaller waterbodies, and coordinated federal processes. 

PDAC adamantly supports efforts to align provincial and federal approvals processes, enabling proponents to undertake more efficient, clear, and streamlined permitting processes for major projects. 

Whether this alignment is achieved through substitution or harmonization, all levels of agreement processes must be well-defined before application within project approvals. Uniform application of clear processes across all proposed projects will ensure predictability for proponents, rightsholders, and stakeholders, and prevent delays stemming from government-to-government co-operation agreement negotiations. Such processes must also consider: 

• Alignment of community of interest determinations at early project stages
• Consistency of information and formatting requirements, and aligned timelines to allow for one regulatory approval that supplies information for others, where overlaps exist
• Limiting information requirements to those necessary in determining and mitigating significant adverse impacts on areas of federal jurisdiction

Abundant in natural resources, equipped with unique expertise and infrastructure, and outperforming most high-income countries in environmental protection, Canada is well-positioned to meet the $770 billion critical mineral demand of 2040. However, with an estimated 27 years required to take mines from discovery to production – the third slowest in the world, and more than 15 years of that timeline spent permitting – Canada is falling far short of its potential.

On August 26^th, PDAC submitted information to various departments and agencies within the Government of Canada to recommend efficiency measures for the regulation and administration of the following Acts: Impact Assessment, Species at Risk, Migratory Birds, Fisheries, Canada Navigable Waters, Competition, Investment Canada, and Canada Transportation. Act-specific recommendations are in addition to the broader need to eliminate duplicative processes and jurisdictional overreach and ensure legal certainty for proponents. 

PDAC supports the Act’s goal of reducing federal barriers to the movement of goods and services in Canada. This objective in mind, we are concerned about a proposed change from the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) to National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) that would require provincially designated professionals to acquire an additional 5 years of experience before they can act as a Qualified Person for federal disclosures. PDAC recommends that the Act be applied to ensure that no 5-year waiting period is imposed on accredited professionals and to recognize the authority of governing provincial and territorial associations in determining who may act as a qualified person.

Recommendation 1: Extend the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) for a minimum of 10 years until March 2035, with an option to renew the credit for an additional 10 years at the midway point (i.e. in 2030) to protect Canadian competitiveness and provide market certainty for industry and investors.

Recommendation 2: Eliminate the gap in flow-through share (FTS) eligibility between the Canadian Exploration Expense (CEE) and Canadian Development Expense (CDE) categories by “expanding eligible activities under CEE to include the costs of technical studies, such as engineering, economic and feasibility studies required to establish mineral reserves and make mine development decisions”, in line with the commitment outlined by the federal government.

Recommendation 3: Modify the Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit (CTM-ITC) by lowering the eligibility threshold from 90% to 50% production of qualified materials, and by including “critical mineral mine development expenses for brownfield sites, while expanding the list of priority critical minerals,” in line with the commitment outlined by the federal government.

Recommendation 4: Index the capital gains tax treatment of FTS to the top federal income tax bracket (i.e. $253,414 in 2025) so that individuals with income below this bracket pay capital gains based on the purchase price of securities versus the current nil cost base method in order to expand the pool of viable Canadian FTS investors.

Recommendation 5: Significantly increase Geological Survey of Canada funding to develop comprehensive mineral potential models using both traditional and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications to expand access of public geoscience data and integration in land management processes to accelerate discoveries and reduce development timelines for new mines.

On June 12, 2025, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published proposed amendments to NI 43-101, its Companion Policy (CP 43-101), and Form 43-101F1.

PDAC is concerned that the proposed amendments call into question the spirit of NI 43-101 and the potential impacts the proposed changes may have on the competitiveness of Canadian issuers.

In our view, the volume and scope of the proposed amendments are extensive, and rather than streamlining the instrument, they are likely to lead to materially higher compliance costs for public issuers without delivering a corresponding benefit to investor protection.

PDAC sent an open letter to CSA leadership highlighting key concerns in advance of a more detailed response during the public consultation.

Government business has come to a standstill under Parliament’s prorogation, prompting the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) to sound the alarm over the critical issues facing Canada’s mineral sector. Chief among these is the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC), which is set to expire in March. 

Since its introduction in 2000, the METC has been indispensable to mineral exploration across the country—generating more than $20 billion in equity financing, creating jobs, supporting remote and Indigenous communities, and enabling major discoveries that feed into Canada’s broader mining ecosystem. The METC does not require any direct outlay of public funds and stands as one of the most productive federal government programs in existence.

PDAC, which works closely with all political parties to advance the industry’s interests, urgently calls on all members of Parliament to renew the METC. With exploration investment already in decline, allowing the tax credit to lapse would undermine every segment of Canada’s mineral sector—from coast to coast to coast. Parliament must also pass the Clean Tech Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit into law and reject any increase to the capital gains inclusion rate. Taking swift action on these measures is crucial to safeguarding Canada’s competitiveness, supporting well-paying jobs, and ensuring the long-term resilience of our mineral exploration and development sector.

The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) is a collaboration between The Copper Mark, ICMM, Mining Association of Canada (MAC) and World Gold Council (WGC) to consolidate their different voluntary responsible mining standards into one global standard.

For the first public consultation period the CMSI solicited comments on the draft standard, assurance process, reporting and claims policy, and governance model.

Recommendation 1: Renew the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) and the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC) for a minimum of 5 years until March 2030, thereby aligning availability of these two cooperative incentives. 

Recommendation 2: Adjust the capital gains tax treatment for flow-through shares (FTS) to reflect the issue price of the security versus the current nil cost base approach, to eliminate phantom capital gains and expand FTS participation by a broader base of Canadian investors. 

Recommendation 3: Close the gap in FTS eligibility between the Canadian Exploration Expense (CEE) and Canadian Development Expense (CDE) categories, to ensure funds can be used towards the scoping and assessment work required to establish mineral reserves and make mine development decisions. 

Recommendation 4: Create a mechanism that can extend FTS expenditure timelines in response to acute, unforeseen situations (e.g. wildfires, floods) and can apply to a specific company, region or nationally to mitigate unintended tax consequences arising for companies and individuals. 

Recommendation 5: Explore ways to leverage successful projects and recapitalize the Critical Mineral Infrastructure Fund (CMIF) beyond the initial $1.5 billion commitment. 

Recommendation 6: Substantially increase funding to the Geological Survey of Canada to develop comprehensive mineral potential models to bolster domestic competitiveness, accelerate mineral discoveries, and reduce development timelines for new mines in Canada. 

Recommendation 7: Expedite development of a one-window access point for the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, and other government initiatives that contribute to Indigenous participation in the mineral industry and drive economic and capacity growth

The Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) was established in 2018 as an independent office by the Canadian government. Its mandate is to promote corporate responsibility and uphold human rights standards among Canadian companies operating abroad in the garment, mining, and oil and gas sectors. The first five-year term of the office spanned from April 2019 to 2024.

As part of the Standing Committee on International Trade's report titled Canadian Mining and Mineral Exploration Firms Operating Abroad: Impacts on the Natural Environment and Human Rights, tabled in the House of Commons on September 18, 2023, Global Affairs Canada was tasked with conducting a review of CORE.

As a key stakeholder since the inception of CORE, PDAC was invited to provide input on the office's process and efficiency. Our comments are outlined herein.

The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada has introduced a potential new mechanism under the Impact Assessment Act entitled Indigenous co-administration agreements. Such agreements would seek to enable Canada and Indigenous governing bodies or other eligible entities to formally share decision-making at key points throughout the federal impact assessment process.

PDAC recognizes the significant efforts from IAAC and the Circle of Experts in developing this discussion paper, and greatly appreciates the opportunity to provide comment through the lens of industry’s decades of project development experience and close collaboration with Indigenous Peoples.

There are several fundamental issues which will impede the successful application of co-administration agreements as they are outlined in the discussion paper, including overlapping territories, inconsistent and unpredictable processes, isolation of other jurisdictions, and lack of capacity. PDAC recommends careful consideration of these challenges in the creation of a co-administration agreement framework. The primary role and goal of the federal government should be to support the direct engagement that has been and will continue to occur between Indigenous groups and proponents collaborating on impact and environmental project assessments.