Minister Vandal highlights budget investments to build a green economy and cleaner, more affordable energy in Nunavut

IQALUIT, NT, April 4, 2023 /CNW/ - Today the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, PrairiesCan and CanNor, was in Iqaluit, where he met with the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce to highlight Budget 2023: A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future and investments in clean energy.

Canada has bounced back remarkably since the pandemic. Canada's economic growth was the strongest in the G7 over the last year, and today, 830,000 more Canadians have jobs than before the pandemic. Inflation has fallen for eight months in a row, our unemployment rate is near its record low, and, supported by our Canada-wide $10-a-day child care system, the labour force participation rate for women reached a record high.

Budget 2023 builds on this important progress.

To build Canada's clean economy, the budget makes crucial investments to fight climate change and create new opportunities for businesses and workers in Canada. This includes measures that will deliver cleaner and more affordable energy, support investment in our communities, and create good-paying jobs for Nunavummiut.

Building Canada's clean economy will require significant and sustained private sector investment in clean electricity, critical minerals, and other major projects. Ensuring the timely completion of these projects is essential. In Budget 2023, the government is proposing further steps to meet our clean growth objectives while continuing to uphold the highest standards for environmental impacts and our duty to consult with Indigenous communities and leaders.

To strengthen Canada's universal public health care system, the Budget delivers $306 million here in Nunavut to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services, and ensure the territory can provide the high-quality and timely health care people in Canada expect and deserve. Indigenous Peoples face unique challenges when it comes to receiving the health care they deserve, so we are also investing an additional $2 billion over 10 years to help ensure access to quality and culturally safe health care services, in line with the priorities of Indigenous partners.

With a responsible fiscal plan that will see Canada maintain the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, Budget 2023 will help to build a Canada that is more secure, more sustainable, and more affordable for people from coast to coast to coast.

Quote

"It is a challenging time in a challenging world, but there is no better place to be than Canada. Budget 2023 is our plan to make transformative investments to fight climate change, strengthen public health care, and build Canada's 21st-century clean economy to ensure a stronger, more sustainable, and more secure Canadian economy for everyone, with the help of Indigenous leadership."

The Honourable Dan Vandal, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Northern Affairs, PrairiesCan and CanNor

Quick facts

• Budget 2023 proposes to commit an additional $4 billion to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to implement a co-developed Urban, Rural, and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy.
• Budget 2023 clean electricity measures would be able to support projects across the North to transition away from diesel and meet emissions goals.
• By the end of 2023, the government will outline a concrete plan to improve the efficiency of the impact assessment and permitting processes for major projects, which include clarifying and reducing timelines, mitigating inefficiencies, and improving engagement and partnerships.
• In addition, Budget 2023 proposes to provide $11.4 million to Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada to engage with Indigenous communities and to update the federal guidelines for federal officials to fulfil the Crown's duty to consult Indigenous Peoples and accommodate impacts on their rights.
• To support and accelerate clean electricity investments, Budget 2023 proposes to introduce a 15% refundable tax credit for eligible investments in non-emitting electricity generation systems, abated natural gas electricity-fired electricity generation, stationary electricity storage systems, and equipment for the transmission of electricity between provinces and territories.
• Budget 2023 proposes a refundable tax credit equal to 30% of the cost of investments in machinery and equipment used to manufacture or process key clean technologies, and extract, process, or recycle certain critical minerals essential to clean technology supply chains.
• Budget 2023 announces the details of the Clean Hydrogen Investment Tax Credit announced in the 2022 Fall Economic Statement, with levels of support varying between 15 and 40% of eligible project costs, with the projects that produce the cleanest hydrogen receiving the highest levels of support.
• Budget 2023 proposes to expand eligibility for the refundable Clean Technology Investment Tax Credit to include eligible geothermal energy systems, further supporting the growth of Canada's burgeoning clean technology sector. This is in addition to the support announced in the 2022 Fall Economic Statement, through this credit, for investments in clean electricity generation and storage, low carbon heating and industrial zero-emission vehicles, including related charging or refuelling equipment.
• Budget 2023 announces that the Canada Infrastructure Bank will invest at least $10 billion through its Clean Power priority area, and at least $10 billion through its Green Infrastructure priority area. This will allow the Canada Infrastructure Bank to invest at least $20 billion to support the building of major clean electricity and clean growth infrastructure projects. These investments will be sourced from existing resources.
• Budget 2023 proposes to provide $3 billion over 13 years to:
• Recapitalize funding for the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program to support critical regional priorities and Indigenous-led projects;
• Renew the Smart Grid program to continue grid innovation support; and
• Create new investments in science-based activities to help capitalize on Canada's offshore wind potential, particularly off the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Related Products

• Budget 2023: A Made-in-Canada Plan: Strong Middle Class, Affordable Economy, Healthy Future
• Budget 2023: Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
• Backgrounder: Stronger Public Health Care
• Backgrounder: Making Life More Affordable
• Backgrounder: An Affordable Place to Call Home
• Backgrounder: A Made-In-Canada Plan: Affordable Energy, Good Jobs, and a Growing Clean Economy
• Backgrounder: Advancing Reconciliation 
• Backgrounder: Stronger and More Inclusive Communities
• Backgrounder: Improving Service Delivery 

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SOURCE Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

Kyle Allen, Press Secretary and Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Dan Vandal, Minister of Northern Affairs, PrairiesCan and CanNor, [email protected]; Media Relations, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, 819-934-2302, [email protected]