INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

  OTTAWA — Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the new critical minerals strategy published Friday doesn't specifically bar Canadian mines from exporting critical minerals and metals to countries like China.  Nor will it prevent companies from taking advantage of any of the $3.8 billion in promised investments if they intend to ship the metals produced to non-democratic countries.  But Wilkinson said the federal government is looking at whether new policies are needed to limit where Canadian critical minerals can be exported. "That is something that we are obviously live to and are discussing internally," he said. The 58-page strategy is the culmination of several years of consultations and is intended to help Canada take advantage of what Wilkinson repeatedly calls a "generational opportunity." In 2020 the World Bank predicted that demand for critical minerals — dozens of metals and minerals like lithium and copper that are used in batteries and ...

  OTTAWA - Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has lots of reasons to be losing sleep. Soaring living costs have Canadians lined up at food banks. The federal Liberals are anticipating a possible recession. And Freeland is personally connected with people living all across war-torn Ukraine. But in April, the finance minister said there was another looming problem on her mind. “If you were to ask what keeps me up at night, I’d say, ‘China’s zero-COVID approach and the very severe lockouts we’re seeing right now,’” Freeland said at an event held by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. If Beijing’s tough COVID-19 rules and factory shutdowns had her the most concerned, it was because these, more than anything else, were sure to wreak havoc on the supply chains Canada relies on to keep its economy running. In July, Canada dodged what was potentially an even bigger blow when the U.S. broadened a policy that would have significantly advantaged the sale of American-made electric vehicles to in...