Canada has the critical minerals Donald Trump wants. So what should we do with them? – National [Video]

An ongoing trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump’s hunger for critical minerals have brought Canada’s rich mineral deposits into the spotlight, with federal and provincial politicians promising to accelerate natural resource projects.

Interest in the country’s critical minerals surged after Trump started musing about annexing Canada, experts say, and grew as the president’s global trade war intensified.

“This is now a domestic conversation about how we treat natural resources or natural resource development projects here in Canada,” said Elizabeth Steyn, a mining and finance law expert at the University of Calgary.

A key element of that conversation is northern Ontario’s mineral-rich Ring of Fire, a region spanning roughly 5,000 kilometres where vast reserves of nickel, chromite, zinc, platinum, copper and many other critical minerals are believed to be buried.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said that his government would aim to approve all federal permits for mining in the …