As many know should you fly a propellor driven aircraft you need a fossil fuel engine to make that propellor spin and keep you flying! That analogy also applies to using wind to create electricity utilizing those IWT (industrial wind turbines). If the wind isn’t blowing, we need either fossil fuel generation, hydroelectricity (water flowing through turbines) or nuclear generation to keep the lights on! Nuclear and most of hydroelectric generation are considered baseload power as is evident on an hourly, daily and annual basis whereas some hydro and natural gas generators stand at the ready to ramp UP or ramp DOWN. In years past that ability allowed it to respond to the hourly electricity demand throughout the day but since the addition of wind and solar generation it is also required to be at the ready for times when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
Evidence of the foregoing is obvious from the following screenshot from IESO late on May 6th, 2023, for the six days starting April 30, 2023, up to hour 20 on the 6th! The green (sprinkled with a little yellow) depicts the generation from wind with the occasional spot of yellow being solar generation.
As the expression goes; “a picture is worth a thousand words” and the foregoing does that as wind generation was quite in evidence during the first three May days but suddenly almost disappeared as we traversed into the 4th and 5th of May. Thankfully our natural gas plants were available to fill in for the missing wind and solar generation and the Spring Freshet supplied water for our rammable hydroelectric generation sources.
What wind and solar generation do is basically layer additional costs on to what we pay for electricity in the province with their first to the grid rights. Ontario’s ratepayers/taxpayers are therefore forced to pickup approximately $6.5 billion of annual costs associated with their; “on again, off again” generation to pretend we are actually having a positive effect on reducing emissions.
Highly unlikely emissions have been reduced considering the emissions generated by the mining and manufacturing processes required for those IWT and solar panels! Ah, but our politicians here in Canada know those emissions were created in another country so will blatantly ignore that latter fact!
As Walter Scott is credited with saying hundreds of years ago; “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!“
As it turned out the data contained in the Federal, Grants and Contributions website had apparently not been updated as I discovered when searching under another name. What was found in that search was the following notice and it popped up for two days.
“Sorry, we are down for maintenance / We are sorry, but this site is down for maintenance.”
The “maintenance” seems to have concluded so another search of the site for “Grants and Contributions” was made for: “Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology” (SDTC) and it disclosed an additional $1,239,441,646 had been added bringing the total grants handed out to them to over $3.1 billion ($3,153,900,935)! All of the grants (added or altered?) carried dates after the Liberal Party of Canada under PM Justin Trudeau had been elected. The grants all noted the funds were to support action related to “climate change” or one of its derivatives!
So the selected bureaucrats involved in operating SDTC will surely be kept busy now doing their best to allocate the additional funds slated and not yet allocated (about $1.7 billion) based on their last annual report. Surely some of that will save us from their perceived apocalypse of “climate change”.
It sure appears the Liberal Party of Canada under Justin Trudeau are convinced money does indeed grow on trees and we taxpayers are the trees so are obligated to “drink the kool-aid” until we vote them out!
Following is the text from the prior article related to SDTC:
“Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology now called Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)**
One should wonder, why the name change since it’s creation in 2001 through a Special Act of Parliament when Jean Chrétien was the Prime Minister? Perhaps it was to suggest it was now an entity freed from political influence despite its dependence on tax dollars as its funding supports; its staff and management in their efforts to re-disperse what remains of the grants. In the latter case the funding granted to them since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister has totalled over $1.9 billion ($1,914,459,289).
So, the question becomes; what have they done with those $1.9 billion of grants? There is a pile of information in their annual report for the year ended March 31, 2022 suggesting they have awarded “contributions of $1,450 million, of which $1,171 million has been disbursed since inception.“ When they make announcements about their chosen investments they issue press releases and as an example one of their recent ones from February 17, 2023 stated; “an investment of $68.2million toward17 innovative Canadian companies.“ The release included a statement from François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry:
“We congratulate all the cleantech entrepreneurs who are turning vision into reality with help from SDTC investments. The Government of Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with these groundbreaking companies as they drive innovation, make their mark as international leaders in clean technology and propel us to a cleaner Canada and anet-zero carbon emissions world.“
What is very unclear about SDTC is each announcement about their handouts claim; they are “an investment” but SDTC’s financial statements show NO investments related to the “dollars” handed out. That seems strange as private investors having been sold on a concept to invest, would require either payback of the funds with interest, or allocation of share purchases at a negotiated price in the company, should it advance to the point where it could become publicly listed on a stock exchange. What that infers is that the money handed out is simply tax dollars that may or may not create a successful company with no future benefit to us taxpayers who provided the funding to create that success!”
Politicians Don’t Seem to Believe “money doesn’t grow on trees”
The foregoing expression is one many of us heard from our parents when we were young and went shopping with them and when in the store, asked them to buy something we wanted. Looking at recent happenings here in Canada it appears our elected politicians were successful during their early years getting whatever they asked for from their parents based on how they are now, literally, throwing our tax dollars away as long as you utter the words embodying anything associated with “climate change” or “net-zero”!
Curiosity piqued, a visit to the Federal Government’s “Grants and Contributions” website led to a search using words connected with the push to reach “net-zero” without looking for a specific beneficiary of the Grant(s). The chart* below, indicates search terms used and how many hits, ie, grants were generated for each word.
No doubt there is some duplication as some grants may include a few of those “chart” words, such as climate change, emissions and net-zero, etc. Despite the potential duplication the money handed out to save Canada from “climate change” is billions and billions of our tax dollars. They do the foregoing while neglecting to improve basic things like, health care, education, criminal law, our military, energy needs, etc. etc. where our tax dollars should rightly be directed.
The recent announcement by the Federal and Provincial governments and the $13.5 billion tax dollars (it will cost much more then that) they are gifting to VW to build a battery plant in Ontario was jointly made to sound like a wonderful gift and create 3,000 jobs. Not included in the $13.5 billion were estimates of the infrastructure costs it will require which will, again, be our tax dollars. As it signals; it is a prime example of exactly how our monies are wasted on anything associated with the reputed catastrophic evidence associated with the push to reduce our emissions to save the world.
Just to emphasize how far we have descended into this trench with the push for net-zero it is interesting to look at just one of the Federal Government’s “not-for-profit” creations!
Canada Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology now called Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)**
One should wonder, why the name change since it’s creation in 2001 through a Special Act of Parliament when Jean Chrétien was the Prime Minister? Perhaps it was to suggest it was now an entity freed from political influence despite its dependence on tax dollars as its funding supports; its staff and management in their efforts to re-disperse what remains of the grants. In the latter case the funding granted to them since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister has totalled over $1.9 billion ($1,914,459,289).
So, the question becomes; what have they done with those $1.9 billion of grants? There is a pile of information in their annual report for the year ended March 31, 2022 suggesting they have awarded “contributions of $1,450 million, of which $1,171 million has been disbursed since inception.“ When they make announcements about their chosen investments they issue press releases and as an example one of their recent ones from February 17, 2023 stated; “an investment of $68.2million toward17 innovative Canadian companies.“ The release included a statement from François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry:
“We congratulate all the cleantech entrepreneurs who are turning vision into reality with help from SDTC investments. The Government of Canada stands shoulder to shoulder with these groundbreaking companies as they drive innovation, make their mark as international leaders in clean technology and propel us to a cleaner Canada and anet-zero carbon emissions world.“
What is very unclear about SDTC is each announcement about their handouts claim; they are “an investment” but SDTC’s financial statements show NO investments related to the “dollars” handed out. That seems strange as private investors having been sold on a concept to invest, would require either payback of the funds with interest, or allocation of share purchases at a negotiated price in the company, should it advance to the point where it could become publicly listed on a stock exchange. What that infers is that the money handed out is simply tax dollars that may or may not create a successful company with no future benefit to us taxpayers who provided the funding to create that success!
Another example of the foregoing becomes obvious in a Federal Government announcement back on July 31, 2021 in a Press Release when they handed $400 million dollars to “ArcelorMittal Dofasco” for “adoption of innovative low-carbon technology “. The release stated: “Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, together with the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Labour, announced a federal investment of $400 million in ArcelorMittal Dofasco G.P., Canada’s largest producer of flat-rolled steel. This investment will support a $1.765-billion project to convert the steel production process and phase out coal-fired steelmaking at its facilities in Hamilton, Ontario.“ It seems clear this “investment” was a grant meaning there is no anticipated return to us taxpayers as Dofasco will simply use the funds to covert the steel process “toward Canada’s achieving its climate goals, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions“.
While the above highlights only two examples of the handouts of our politicians it clearly demonstrates their use of inappropriate nouns when passing out tax dollars. Handing out our hard-earned taxes when associated with their objectives of a net-zero economy should not be defined as investments!
They are of the bent who obviously appear to believe that “money does indeed grow on trees”!
Canada’s Federal Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault has in the past consistently regarded nuclear power in a derogatory fashion. For the foregoing reason it is surprising the recently released 2023 Federal Budget proposed to “introduce a 15 per cent refundable tax credit for eligible investments in Non-emitting electricity generation systems: wind, concentrated solar, solar photovoltaic, hydro (including large-scale), wave, tidal, nuclear (including large-scale and small modular reactors)“. That suggests; either Guilbeault wasn’t consulted, or he was beaten up in caucus during budget discussions! We should all wonder will he once again climb the CN Tower to protest the inclusion of nuclear for the “refundable tax” or has he suddenly realized closing nuclear plants in the electricity sector is a dumb idea?
On Canada’s west coast the David Suzuki Foundation was excited about the budget allocation as suggested in their article stating: “Overall energy costs will go down for everyone as we move away from fossil fuels and instead use electricity sources like wind and solar, all while creating millions of jobs and bringing real benefits to communities,” said Stephen Thomas, the Foundation’s clean electricity manager.” It would appear Stephen Thomas is unaware of the damage moving away from fossil fuels has imposed on the UK and most EU countries driving up energy poverty by inflating energy costs! Needless to say the David Suzuki foundation is not a nuclear fan as many articles/reports on their site disparage them stating things like: “Canada could reach zero-emissions electricity by 2035 “without relying on expensive and sometimes unproven and dangerous technologies like nuclear or fossil gas with carbon capture and storage.” They believe wind, solar and storage could do the job! It is somewhat comforting to see some divisions are now developing between the ENGO and the Trudeau led government but with him and his team in power we shouldn’t expect much more to happen!
Ontario Launches the Clean Energy Credit Registry
Mere days after the Federal Budget was released the Province of Ontario issued a Press Release announcing they are launching a Clean Energy Credit (CEC) Registry they reputed would not only “fund the construction of clean electricity projects” but would also “boost competitiveness and attract jobs”. The Press Release went on to state: “Proceeds from the sale of CECs held by the IESO and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will be directed to the government’s Future Clean Electricity Fund. This new fund will help keep costs down for electricity ratepayers by supporting the development of new clean energy projects as the province builds out our grid to meet the demands of a growing population and economy, as well as the electrification of transportation and industry
From the above one would surmise they have discovered how to create a utopia as the release brags about the upcoming Stellantis–LGES battery plant as well as a recent announcement about Volkswagen’s planned first overseas gigafactory. No mention is made as to how much “provincial or federal” taxpayer funds are being thrown at either factory. The Federal government let it slip they are throwing $500 million at the battery plant but neither the provincial or federal government has disclosed what they are contributing to obtain the Volkswagen gigafactory but we should suspect it is well over $1 billion.
Coincidental or Collusion?
The provincial announcement was alluded to in the provincial budget (record spending plans) but few details were provided in its release on March 23, 2023 as to the specifics now contained in the recent press release about the CEC Registry. It appears the province was waiting for the blessing of nuclear as “clean” by the Trudeau led government perhaps due to its predominant supply of electricity in the province? According to IESO’s Year in Review for 2022, Ontario’s nuclear plants generated 58.2% of grid connected generation (78.8 TWh terawatt hours]) or 78,800 GWh (gigawatt hours). If one accepts the IEA (International Energy Agency) claim each GWh of nuclear displaces 5.9 MT of CO2 of coal generated electricity; in 2022 the 78.8 TWh of nuclear generated electricity in Ontario would have displaced 464.9 MT!
As of April 1st here in Canada the tax levied per tonne of emissions will be $65/tonne so the 464.9 MT would represent a value of $30.2 billion if there are willing buyers at that price! We should seriously doubt the province will be lucky to generate $160 million from their sale which would be about $2/tonne so won’t go very far in either creating jobs or keeping costs down in an Ontario budget of over $200 billion for the upcoming year. Interestingly the Provincial budget projected the “Electricity Cost-Relief Program” would increase by over $500 Million ($5,946 million to 6,516.8 million) suggesting either; costs are anticipated to increase by 10% or there is little faith in the CEC generating much additional revenue.
What was missed?
Ignored in the concept proposed in the Registry creation is the fact that Ontario’s electricity sector is already 90% plus emissions free so purchasing those CEC will not be top of mind for many Ontario based companies.
Suggested Conclusion
Perhaps Ontario should attempt to sell the CEC to China or India where coal generation plays a major role in keeping their energy costs low and their manufacturing base humming whereas our Federal Government seems determined to undermine our manufacturing and fossil fuel-based economies and turn Canada into Canezuela!
It is apparent no one noticed from Hour 9 to Hour 11 on February 11, 2013 Ontario’s baseload power decreased by 814 MW of capacity as Bruce Power’s G-8 nuclear reactor was tripped off. It’s not clear why it was tripped, but in terms of security to avoid blackouts in the province; that baseload power would generate over 7 TWh (terawatt hours) over a full year or about what 800,000 average Ontario households consume.
The above should be of concern to the Ontario Ministry of Energy but so far, they haven’t noticed! The Ministry are instead excited about the recent announcement triggered by a November 24, 2022, Ministerial directive from Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Todd Smith to IESO. That directive instructed them to complete negotiations with the proponents of the Oneida Energy Storage Project, a 250 MW BESS (battery energy storage system).
Needless to say when the announcement was finally made the Ontario Conservative Party were excited and Global News reported in a February 10, 2023 article, Premier Ford stating; “It’s equivalent to taking 643,000 cars off the road,”. The article went on to note the project “is being supported by the Canada Infrastructure Bank which has earmarked some $170 million to the initiative.“ The CIB’s press release contained slightly different information than the Ford quote claiming: “The Oneida Energy storage project is expected to reduce emissions by between 2.2 to 4.1 million tonnes, equivalent to taking up to 40,000 cars off the road.“
Hmm, the foregoing suggests someone’s math is askew as taking 643,000 cars off the road is a multiple of 16 times what the CIB said was 40,000 cars! Who should we taxpayers believe?
The CIB’s press release had numerous quotes in it from both federal and provincial government politicians as well as the partners; Northland Power Inc., NRStor, Aecon*NB: and Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC).
As an example of the excitement displayed, here is what Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources had to say: “The Government of Canada is pleased to collaborate with partners to unlock the energy storage solutions needed to store clean energy while meeting increasing electricity demands,” and he went on further stating: “The Oneida Energy storage project represents a significant Indigenous-led development that will create good jobs for Canadians while reducing emissions. The Government of Canada is pleased to invest $50 million in building this project with Indigenous partners — resulting in one of the world’s largest battery storage projects.“
Premier Ford said: “I’m thrilled to see so many great partners come together to build this world-class project that will provide affordable, clean energy for generations to come,”.
The other quote, in my mind, that stood out, was from Mike Crawley of Northland Power Inc. as Crawley was reputedly the former Ontario President of the Liberal Party and following that served as President of the Liberal Party of Canada.
Crawley’s quote was: “The Oneida Energy Storage Project is a milestone for Ontario’s burgeoning energy storage sector. It will make the province’s electricity grid more efficient, stable and reliable. For Northland, this project marks our first storage investment. We recognize the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada for their continued support of energy storage initiatives. Finally, we look forward to continuing to work in partnership with NRStor and the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, without whom this project would not have been possible.”
We should suspect Crawley’s attribution to “Ontario’s burgeoning energy storage sector” is a subtle call for support (financial and regulatory) from the CIB and the Ford government to grant approval for a storage project Northland Power have been chasing for over a decade. That project is the Marmora pumped storage project utilizing the abandoned iron mine in Marmora, Ontario. Crawley has somehow managed to entice OPG into joining Northland in their pursuit of that contract perhaps believing it will convince Ontario’s Energy Minister, he must give it his blessing.
Mike Crawley was called out by Bob Runciman, a Conservative MPP, who sat as a member of Ontario’s parliament for 29 years and in 2004 was opposition leader. The Hansard report indicates in Runciman’s examination of the then Minister of Energy, Dwight Duncan in 2004, he raised “conflict issues” about Crawley and his position as President of AIM PowerGen while being the Ontario President of the Liberal Party of Canada. The issue was in respect to a $475 million contract awarded to Erie Shores Wind Farm owned by AIM PowerGen. According to the Hansard records Crawley was also President of the Canadian Wind Energy Association at the time. Needless to say nothing came of the issue raised by MPP Runciman when he asked Duncan to “put the contract on hold” pending an investigation by the Ontario Integrity Commission. Duncan refused! Crawley still maintains influence with the Liberal Party and his influence seems to now also involve the Ontario Conservative Party.
Mr. Crawley is registered as a Lobbyist with the Federal government and in June of last year he met with Jonathan Wilkinson who stated the Government of Canada “invested $50 million” in the project. We should wonder if the $50 million investment came about as a result of Crawley’s lobbying efforts?
Looking quickly at the Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation (SNGRDC) it is difficult to find complete information related to their “green energy portfolio” other than the claim; “itis capable of producing over 1000MW of clean energy through involvement in 18 solar or wind projects either directly (Equity Interests) or indirectly (Community Benefit Agreements). Their website identifies their portfolio’s capacity as 297 MW of “wind” and 145 MW of “solar”! They recently announced they were upset the Lake Erie Connector Project had been suspended for which the CIB had planned to “invest up to $655 million or up to 40% of the project cost. ITC, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., and private sector lenders will invest up to $1.05 billion, the balance of the project’s capital cost.“
As if the furore from the proponents along with provincial and federal politicians wasn’t enough the Federal Minister of Finance and Deputy PM, Chrystia Freeland rang out with her rants on twitter about the project and how “it will create good jobs, help build Ontario’s 21st century electricity grid, and make electricity more affordable for Ontario families.”
As Minister of Finance she should recognize handing out $220 million of our (Federal) tax dollars for a project destined to raise the cost of electricity and create a few jobs to occasionally power homes or businesses for a few hours annually is not the panacea she hyperventilates about.
The time has come for all of Canada’s politicians to cease the madness of their “net-zero” targets and recognize how eliminating the 6% to 7% of emissions from the electricity sector will have no impact on Canada’s fossil fuel reduction but will result in the loss of well-paying jobs throughout our economy.
Time for sanity to return to our elected politicians!
*Aecon has been awarded a $141 million Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract by Oneida LP.
NB: One of my contacts informed me John Beck CEO and President of Aecon is a big supporter of the WEF where our Finance Minister Freeland also hangs her hat! I went to the WEF website and searched his name and it popped up many times and he sits on one of their “Steering Committees. We should all wonder what in hell is going on!
Back on November 2, 2022, François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced: “the Government of Canada has ordered the divestiture of the following investments by foreign investors in Canadian critical mineral companies:
Sinomine (Hong Kong) Rare Metals Resources Co., Limited is required to divest itself of its investment in Power Metals Corp.
Chengze Lithium International Limited is required to divest itself of its investment in Lithium Chile Inc.
Zangge Mining Investment (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. is required to divest itself of its investment in Ultra Lithium Inc.”
The divestitures Minister Champagne ordered were all China controlled companies. For some reason however, another Chinese controlled company; MMG Limited, wasn’t included in the order despite the fact their mining rights include both copper and zinc. Copper is considered a “critical mineral” associated with the manufacture of EV batteries and zinc appears to be an upcoming “critical mineral” based on some recent news and patents filed! Zinc based batteries reputedly offer improved intrinsic safety over lithium-ion batteries aligned with a high energy storage capability.
Hmm; was the omission of MMG Limited intentional or simply missed?
One should note the Trudeau government was certainly aware of MMG’s longstanding mining rights as pointed out in a September 19, 2021 article about the Strathmere Group. The article said: “suddenly back on August 13, 2019 Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport announced a project: “$21.5 million to complete preparatory work necessary for the first phase of construction of the Grays Bay Road and Port Project. The proposed 230-kilometre all-season road would be the first road to connect Nunavut to the rest of Canada.“
That project, co-incidentally, was seen as the means to cash in on the opening of the Arctic, something China had attempted to accomplish back in 2011 via a Chinese company with mining rights (MMG Limited) and whose principal shareholder was the Chinese government. At that time MMG backed away from further plans as the cost of the roads and port made it too costly! As noted in an article in the Walrus on January 4, 2021, “The vast mineral deposits of zinc and copper near Izok Lake, in the Northwest Territories, lay glittering but ultimately untouchable“ until Garneau’s pledge. Shortly after the pledge by Garneau, Mr. G. Gao, CEO of MMG in a press release said; “On behalf of MMG, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Canadian government for their support and funding,”.
The Walrus article went on stating: “CHINA’S GROWING INTEREST in the Canadian Arctic, one of the least defended regions on earth, has been a calculated move. In 2013, despite not being one of the eight Arctic nations, China gained official observer status at the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, and later declared itself a “near-Arctic state”—a phrase that seems to ignore the 5,000 kilometres between its northernmost point and the Arctic Circle.”
It seems ironic Garneau’s Bill C-48 designed to halt Canadian fossil fuel exports from Canada’s west coast was passed just two months earlier before he turned around and catered to Chinese interests in obtaining critical minerals associated with EV battery manufacturing by China. With Champagne announcing the required divesture of critical mineral mining rights by those three Chinese companies one should wonder; why wasn’t MMG Limited included? Don’t these ministers talk, or do they simply take orders from above?
MMG’s website states: “MMG’s major shareholder is China Minmetals Corporation (CMC). Founded in 1950, CMC is one of China’s major multinational state-owned enterprises.CMC’s subsidiary China Minmetals H.K. (Holdings) Limited (Minmetals HK) currently owns approximately 67.68% of the total shares of MMG, with the remaining 32.32% owned by public shareholders including global resources and investment funds.”
MMG’s Press Release after Garneau made the announcement had this to say:
“The Izok Corridor Project includes the Izok and High Lake deposits located in Nunavut in the Canadian arctic within a geological formation known as the Slave Geological Province. Izok is a zinc/copper deposit with a Mineral Resource of 15 million tonnes at 13% zinc and 2.3% copper. The High Lake deposit, located north of Izok, has a Mineral Resource of 14 million tonnes at 3.8% zinc and 2.5% copper.The Izok Corridor Project offers the potential for significant socio-economic contributions to the Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Canadian economies.”
The press release went on to note: “Project development requires construction of a 325-kilometre all-weather road, as well as a deep-water port on the Arctic Ocean to facilitate transportation of metal concentrates to overseas markets. MMG also holds several other base metal deposits and exploration tenements in this highly prospective region.“
It seems obvious MMG will not finance either the road or the port and will not exploit their mining rights unless they are complete and paid for by Canadian taxpayers. On the question of costs to complete the road and the port it is extremely difficult, nay impossible, to find factual estimates. A 2021 Government Environmental Scan however did state: “Steady growth is expected on the Territories’ construction sector as a number of new projects are expected to begin shortly. For instance, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association is proceeding with its Grays Bay Road and Port project in Nunavut following a nearly two-year delay as a result of COVID-19 and rising construction costs. The estimated $550M project includes a 227-km all-weather road and a deep-sea port at Grays Bay on Coronation Gulf.“ One should note the Government of Canada’s “scan” suggests their estimated cost covered only 227-km of the 325-km “all-weather road” touted by MMG and it wasn’t specific on the individual costs of either the road or the port! No matter, though if all the costs are paid by the Federal and Territorial governments it will be the Canadian taxpayers who are paying for both!
If the foregoing costs of the road and the port fall on the backs of Canadian taxpayers, we should view it as the Trudeau government simply handing out our tax dollars to China so that can mine our resources, ship them to China for processing and use them to manufacture EV batteries. This may well happen despite the billions of dollars the Federal and Provincial (Ontario and Quebec) have promised to auto makers and future battery manufacturers.
When the foregoing happens, we taxpayers can sit back and repeat what our PM Trudeau said: “There’s a level of admiration I actually have for China. Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime“. The last few words of his comment might be altered to; “to turn their economy around on a few billion of Canadian taxpayer dollars”
Parker Gallant Energy Perspectives 