Foreign Minister Jolly: yes – Yves, Christian, Stefon and myself for investing in your company – Thanks to all the great people from Rosine to Maxime. And I was telling him in French – I know you understand, but it’s for your English media – basically he – he must be a good boss. People are proud to work here.
As such, we know that the transition to the environment is creating many opportunities. It’s definitely around the world, and here at home as well. As such, demand for lithium could increase by up to 4,000%. In this context, we saw an opportunity as a government and he invested $4 billion in the Critical Minerals Strategy. And we believe Canada can become an important minerals hub and compete with other countries such as China. We believe we can attract a lot of investment here. Lithion is an example. We invested her $4 million in that company.
So, folks in the United States, we ramped up semiconductor production and invested $52 billion —
Secretary blink: That is correct.
Foreign Minister Jolly: — for that strategy, this is amazing. But perhaps semiconductors, wind turbines, electric vehicles, etc. all need vital minerals.
Secretary blink: That is correct.
Foreign Minister Jolly: That’s why the world needs critical minerals, but the world needs more of Canada’s critical minerals.
Secretary blink: Thank you. See, this is the future, it’s here now, and it’s amazing. We are moving towards a world where cars run on batteries. The technology has made remarkable progress. We know that maintaining a sustainable environment, addressing climate change, and meeting energy demand will have a powerful impact. But as this is, a technology that allows us to recycle up to 95% of batteries, reuse virtually all materials, and remake lithium and other critical materials used in batteries, Having a process is extraordinary. , and create this virtuous circle.
What we’re seeing here is also a great partnership between the US and Canada, between the public and private sectors, and the incredible innovations we’re seeing in this company, greatly supported by the Canadian government. One of America’s largest companies, General Motors, has made significant investments. And the recycling done here becomes the batteries that go into vehicles assembled in the United States. And like I said, it creates this very virtual circle. All of this is further aided by the Inflation Reduction Act and its provisions creating tax credits for the use of North American-made electric vehicle batteries, especially in this case these recycled materials.
So this is incredibly strong and to think that this is the result of a partnership between our two countries and between companies gives us a lot of confidence and hope for the future. Thank you for sharing with us today. Thank you very much.
