Canada’s copper potential is real, but the way Ottawa is handling it under Carney is a textbook example of why tired Laurentian Liberal policies keep driving capital away.
Global CAPEX today moves fast, follows regulatory certainty, and demands competitive jurisdictions. Instead, we get political soundbites about “nation-building projects” from a Marxist-leaning Prime Minister who still thinks Ottawa knows best.
The world’s miners and investors don’t need more rhetoric about “resilience”, they need streamlined approvals, tax stability, and clear pathways to infrastructure.
Copper is indeed essential for EVs, AI, and energy systems. But the fact that Canada has slipped to just 2% of global production while Chile dominates at 30% is not because of geology, it’s because Ottawa has spent a decade burying projects in regulatory red tape, ESG virtue-signaling, and shifting goalposts.
Carney and the Laurentian elite simply don’t understand how modern CAPEX works. Major capital allocators today are deploying billions into markets where projects can actually get permitted and built on predictable timelines.
Ottawa still believes in slow-moving, centrally planned “nation-building.” Meanwhile, Barrick, Anglo American, and others are making bold copper bets, but mostly outside Canada.
If Canada wants to be more than an afterthought, it needs to get serious about creating a jurisdiction that attracts capital rather than drives it south or offshore.
Otherwise, these so-called “fast-tracked” projects will be too little, too late, another missed opportunity caused by outdated policy thinking in Ottawa.
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