Question Period Note: SECURING SUPPLY CHAINS

How is the Government of Canada ensuring the resiliency of supply chains?

• The Government of Canada is making concrete investments in Canadian industrial sectors to strengthen domestic supply chains and bolster access to critical commodities now and in the future.

• Canada continues to work alongside its allies like the United States and other industrialized democracies to de-risk supply chains and combat the effects of distortive non-market practices around the world.

• Furthermore, the government is making a new push to invest in digital infrastructure and technology to make supply chains more efficient and resilient, reducing costs for Canadian consumers and industries as well as invest in strengthening Canadian domestic manufacturing capacity in areas such as biotechnology, critical minerals and batteries.

The global economy is experiencing what appear to be structural shifts in supply chains, the indications of which began before the pandemic, but were brought into greater relief during COVID and further fuelled by the war in Ukraine and other global events. More recently, heightened tensions between the United States and China – a result of non-market distortionary trade practices by China – have further raised concerns regarding supply chain resilience and rules-based international trade.

Countries all over the world are increasingly focusing on economic security, resilience, and trade with allies. This represents an opportunity for Canada, which has resources of many of the world’s most crucial raw materials, one of the world’s most educated workforces, a dynamic manufacturing sector, and proximity to the world’s largest market in the United States.

Domestically, Canada continues to make strategic investments in critical sectors to promote supply chain resilience and ensure that the Canadian economy is prepared for the future. These investments will be supported by Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy which outlines the Government of Canada’s plan to develop Canada’s domestic critical minerals and expand the domestic value chain to processing and manufacturing. This will help put Canada in a leading position as the world moves to greater adoption of clean and renewable energy sources, and better links its industry with trading partners who rely on critical minerals inputs and products for their economic objectives.

Canada is also actively working with allied countries around the world like the US, EU, and members of the G7 to promote supply chain resilience and economic security. In a global environment where risk is increasing and disruptions and unfair trade practices are becoming more common place, Canada continues to position itself as a reliable international partner and steadfast advocate for fair and rules-based international trade.

• As for Canada’s artificial intelligence (AI) advantage, our new suite of investments will strengthen our capacity to further develop and adopt AI technologies across a range of sectors and businesses, ensuring they are highly productive, efficient and able to compete on the world stage.

• The government continues to build up vaccine and medicine manufacturing capabilities, to implement a Critical Minerals Strategy to harness Canada’s natural resource advantage, and to invest in batteries, electric vehicles and semiconductors.

• Since 2020, automotive and battery manufacturers have announced investments totaling more than $40 billion in Canada’s EV battery supply chain.. These investments position Canada to be a global leader in the manufacture of critical technologies of the future and transition towards a cleaner environment.

• Ongoing efforts to build our critical supply chains with like-minded democracies represent a significant economic opportunity for Canadian businesses and workers. The government will continue to design domestic policies and programs to strengthen our trade ties with like minded countries as a top-of-mind objective.