Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his desire for more critical mineral projects to be developed in Canada on the sidelines of a visit Friday to the Alouette aluminum smelter in Sept-Îles on the north coast.
Canada and its allies are organizing amid uncertainty surrounding exports of critical minerals from countries like China that are increasingly threatening supply chains.
For the Prime Minister, Alouette is a good example of a strategic infrastructure that will help secure the country’s future.
“Regarding critical minerals, this is a topic that we are talking about more and more, not only because of China’s dominance in certain minerals, but also because of the challenges with Russia, which is no longer seen as a reliable partner for many minerals and supply chains,” he said.
“We have very strong interest from our allies to develop even more important mineral projects here in Canada,” added the Prime Minister.
Mines and aluminum smelters are also strategic infrastructures that can become targets of cyberattacks, as was the case with the Alouette aluminum smelter last March.
Justin Trudeau said he was sensitive to the issue, saying that legislation is being passed on the issue and that Canada wants to be at the forefront of protecting businesses.
These words are reassuring for the president of the Alouette aluminum smelter, Claude Gosselin, whose organization has learned from the cyber attack.
“We have a major action plan that will take at least 12 months to improve security and review certain systems. Even if we passed tests and were peer reviewed and well positioned, the fact remains that today we will always be under threat, we must always be on guard. We have to change things, we have recovered about 99% of our systems, there has been no impact,” said Mr. Gosselin.
During his second visit to Sept-Îles in three years, Justin Trudeau met with CEGEP students and Innu leaders in the afternoon.
The Prime Minister underlined the importance of reconciliation with indigenous peoples, especially for the development of mining projects.