Trudeau holds town hall at First Nations University of Canada

Trudeau talks about selling 100 per cent electric cars in just 12 years, and supplying the lithium to build them.

By Brian Zinchuk

REGINA – Switching Canada over to 100 per cent electric new car sales in just 12 years, and supplying the natural resources to make that happen, were part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments on April 13.

The prime minister held a two-hour town hall at First Nations University of Canada in Regina.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaking at a town hall at First Nations University in Regina on April 13. CPAC Screen capture

Saskatchewan, as well as Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta, are all actively seeking to develop lithium production. As the lightest metal in the periodic table, it is a crucial component of any battery where weight is a principle factor.

As part of his remarks, Trudeau said:

We are a country that has incredible natural resources at a time where people in Europe have understood their reliance on oil and gas from Russia, cheap oil and gas from Russia, for 20 to 20 past years, came with a very, very big risk that has finally caught up with them. That Russia is a country that does not share people’s values and wants to see the people who are their customers in Europe destabilized.

China has cornered the market on lithium, which is unbelievably important, not just for the cell phones in our pockets, but for the electric cars that are going to be 100 per cent of the new cars sold in 2035. Just about all the lithium in the world right now goes through China. But Canada has lithium. Canada has the resources that the world needs. And Canada has mining expertise that is real and tangible and at a time when the world is looking for better sources, more reliable partners to trade with, they know that Canada is not there to destabilize someone else’s democracy.

We are a reliable partner that wants to see Europe and partners around the Americas and friends in Asia succeed and be able to have those reliable supply chains. But also done in ways that are responsible environmentally, that are built on real partnerships with Indigenous peoples who have been stewards of this land for millennia, and deserve to be benefiting with strong communities and good jobs from the bounty of the land that is so valuable in the world right now.

We have tremendous opportunities that right here in Saskatchewan. I just watched on Monday, a handshake between Tim at the head of Cameco, who’s selling Saskatchewan uranium to Ukraine, so that Ukraine’s nuclear reactors that have always been reliant on Russian technology and Russian uranium, now they’re not buying from Russia anymore. They’re buying from Canada, from right here in Saskatchewan.

The two largest producers in the world of potash outside of Canada, are Russia and Belarus. Right here in Saskatchewan, we can be that reliable supplier to the world. We have a clean energy grid, which is why countries like companies like Volkswagen is choosing to invest in Canada. Why ArcelorMittal has made its first steel electric arc plant in the world, off of coal, onto electric arc, in Hamilton. We have what the world needs right now. And we can demonstrate that we are there to support the world in this net-zero economy we’re trying to build by 2050. Canada and Canadians are incredibly well positioned for that right now. That’s a big part of what this budget was about.