Oppose Integration of Canada into U.S. War Economy
No to U.S. Military Money in Canadian Mining Operations or Other Industries!
CBC News reports the U.S. military has given two Canadian mining companies an initial $15 million to mine and process copper, gold, graphite and cobalt in Quebec and the Northwest Territories. The U.S. military has made it known that up to a half-a-billion dollars are available to make these minerals available for its war machine of planes, drones, electric vehicles, missiles and munitions.
The U.S. imperialists are in a feverish expansion of their war-fighting capacity and have increasingly drawn Canada into their military economy. The U.S. ruling elite looks to Canada for an assured supply of minerals and carbon fuels to feed its wars of aggression worldwide. These include its current proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, supplying the Zionist warmongers bent on massacring every last Palestinian, building up the U.S. war capacity throughout the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa, and encircling and threatening China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea with pre-emptive strikes.
The current U.S. military funding directly into Canada's economy comes under the aegis of the U.S. Defense Production Act (DPA) which gives the U.S. President the power to funnel U.S. military money abroad. A U.S. military press release refers to the funding as a "Canada-U.S. co-investment."
The DPA dates back to the immediate post-World War II period when the U.S. imperialists engaged in a global war policy of "containment of communism." The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on civilian targets in Japan even though the Japanese militarists had already been defeated with only an official surrender to come. The U.S. filmed and extensively photographed the atomic explosions and sent the threatening images around the world, in particular to the Soviet Union, openly suggesting that 'you and your allies are next.' It unleashed a war of aggression in Korea to prevent the Korean people from deciding their own future after their historic victory over Japanese colonial occupation. It was preparing its military forces to occupy Vietnam to replace the French colonial invaders who were on the verge of total defeat by the heroic Vietnamese people. Everywhere the U.S. imperialists sought to hold back the national liberation movements that were fighting to complete their victories following WWII.
To serve the U.S. militarists' purpose of containing communism and achieving post-war global hegemony, the DPA confers powers on the U.S. President to fund production or buy material for its advanced weapon systems as matters of "national-security." Regarding the current DPA funding of resource extraction and production in Canada, the U.S. military began the process in 2022, requesting mining and refining proposals and detailed applications and subsequently picking two finalists. According to the CBC, the Canadian government at this point committed millions of dollars in subsidies to support the U.S. military initiatives. CBC quotes Ben Steinberg, who worked on energy-security issues for the U.S. government and now works for a cartel of battery-makers, stating the obvious: "The U.S. military needs these materials for combat."
The cash from the U.S. military and Canadian government given to the private mining companies involves feasibility studies, permitting and preparations for production. The Canadian government promised the U.S. military that if future events determine a necessity for the minerals they will be supplied without interruption according to a clause in Canada's own version of the DPA giving the government the power to buy raw materials on behalf of a NATO ally. Accordingly, the United States military would "leap to the front of the customer line."
Ontario-based Fortune Minerals, a "recipient company" for the pay-the-rich subsidies, says that under its grant contract the U.S. government will pay the going market rate for minerals upon becoming a customer. The company says it has "already spent $137 million in preparatory work on a cobalt-gold-bismuth-copper mine in the Northwest Territories and a processing facility in southern Canada."
CBC writes, "Money was not available from banks because the capital markets, for junior mining, have been closed...for several years ... (Fortune Minerals) started asking U.S. federal departments for money several years ago, and learned most of them couldn't fund a foreign project; but the military could, because of an old defence-industrial agreement, which the UK and Australia have just joined."
With the U.S. military approval and funding for the project and additional money from the Canadian government, construction of infrastructure and the mine will soon begin with production slated for 2027 as the company "already has key permits and an environmental assessment." Apparently, for the company to receive the funding it had to promise "control of these minerals [would remain] entirely within North America and [the company] would potentially process materials for UK mining giant Rio Tinto."
The other winning bid for U.S. military funding belongs to a Quebec-based company, Lomiko Metals, seeking to develop what it describes as one of the world's largest graphite deposits. "We were very excited [by this news of the U.S. military funding], as you can imagine," said Gordana Slepcev, Lomiko's chief operating officer. "This is a very, very important step for us." She said the U.S. military and government funding will cover half of everything the company needs before a decision on construction, meaning its late-stage feasibility and permitting work.
CBC writes, "With the Pentagon backing, she's not worried about being able to raise the other half over the next few years; she estimates the final plans will take between three and five years; shovels could be in the ground between 2027 and 2029. 'The reality is we can always speed up the timeline,' she said. 'If capital comes right away, we can go [faster]'."
The CBC says the U.S. military funding for the projects was promised during Biden's visit to Ottawa in early 2023 but took a year longer to confirm the first projects. Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson spoke of the urgency of war preparations and the necessity to speed up production of the material necessary for modern weapons telling the CBC, "We have to go faster. It cannot take us 12 to 15 years to permit new mines in this country."
No to U.S. Military Money in Canada!
Together Let Us Put a Stop to This
Insane March Towards War!
Canada Out of NATO and NORAD!
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 5 - June 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M540054.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca