PDAC recognizes Budget 2024 takes focus on the significant challenges Canadians are currently facing with respect to cost inflation, housing, and affordability of everyday life.

We did not anticipate the mineral industry would take center stage in this budget. However, we have no doubt the importance of the mineral exploration and development sector, mineral supply chains – and their links to Canada’s overarching environmental and economic goals – remain top of mind for the Federal Government.

We thanked Minister Freeland for the one-year renewal of the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) just a few weeks ago, and we know a multi-year renewal of the METC, as the government did in 2018, could further boost confidence and investment in Canada’s mineral exploration industry.

Potentially working against the METC renewal, Budget 2024 proposes a substantial increase to the capital gains inclusion rate. Such an increase will reduce the amount of available capital for junior exploration and development companies and create major headwinds for investment into Canadian industry more broadly. Without careful consideration, the proposed tax increase could put us on track to fall short on the critical mineral and other federal strategies, and we cannot risk losing momentum in building our capacity to discover and connect new mineral deposits to domestic supply chains.

PDAC has recommended that the government adjusts the cost base for capital gains tax treatment of flow-through shares, which will broaden the potential pool of investors. This would be one approach to counterbalance Budget 2024’s proposed tax increase.

The challenge of eliminating emissions from our energy and transportation grids will require more public and private investments, support from Canadians across our country, and a sustained effort by governments and private industry to build the missing infrastructure needed to connect our minerals to markets.

Given the central role of Indigenous communities in Canada’s mineral industry, PDAC is pleased by the announcement of up to $5 billion dollars dedicated to the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program. This program and its related $3.5 million in capacity funding and application support will better position communities to participate in the wealth of economic opportunities generated by the natural resources industry.

PDAC will be unwavering in voicing how uniquely Canadian investment incentives like flow-through shares and exploration tax credits must remain well-oiled and ingrained in our financial landscape. And we will remain steadfast in our call that Canada must expand its public geoscience knowledge-base and incorporate this information into our national strategies and land management processes.