Today, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is recognizing many of the local chambers of commerce across the country that have been consistently making the case for Canada’s resource sectors. Our network of Resource Champions recognizes that Canada’s future prosperity means creating the conditions for our natural resource sectors to succeed.

Greater Sudbury is home to the largest integrated mining complex in the world.  Mining and mining supply and services is a key economic driver for our community and employs over 14,000 people in Sudbury.  The natural resource sector contributes greatly to the economic vitality of our community and this is why we decided to join the Resource Champions Initiative of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

Canada’s chamber network – a group of 420 chambers from across the country representing every industrial sector – knows how important forest products and fisheries, miners and farmers, and energy producers of all stripes are to Canada’s economy. Any serious plan for creating jobs, greening our economy and reaching out to new markets has to place the competitiveness of the resources sector at its core.

Natural resources provide crucial high paying jobs for people in Canada’s remote and northern regions, particularly indigenous Canadians. Many First Nation, Métis and Inuit entrepreneurs and business people have used sustainably-managed resource projects as a way to create economic prosperity and independence for their peoples.

But it’s not just remote regions that benefit. Through their extensive supply chains, natural resource firms are important customers of manufacturers and service providers in cities that are miles from the forest, farm or mine site. Toronto’s financial sector, Quebec’s engineering firms, BC’s clean tech: all of these economic clusters and many more across the country benefit greatly from Canada’s vast resource wealth.

Natural resources remain, by far, Canada’s largest export sector. More than that, they are an important calling card on the world stage. As we look to expand trade beyond the U.S. to Asia and Europe, our resources will be one of the key reasons why business and government leaders in these regions take our phone call.

In many ways, resource industries are leading technology innovators for Canada. Developing a global edge in clean technology, a priority for the current government, will mean leveraging our strength in resource production.

But business can’t do it alone. Government needs to create the conditions that will facilitate Canada’s trade with the world. The Canadian Chamber has identified several areas where government action is needed to shore up Canada’s competitiveness.

Canadian fisheries are poised to seize growing advantage in the EU and Asia, but need a full court press to get trade agreements ratified that that will open up these markets.

Forest products are the largest contributor to Canada’s trade surplus, but they need a more competitive freight transportation system to get the world’s sustainably-produced forest products to market.

We need governments to make the case to get pipelines and LNG export facilities built in order to trade our oil and gas resources with the world. So long as the world relies on hydrocarbons, there’s a strong case for Canada to stand up as an ethical and responsible producer of this crucial product.

Canada could triple its clean power exports to the U.S. by 2030 as our southern neighbor moves to close down its coal plants, but taking full advantage of the opportunity will require working with the United States to remove regulatory barriers.

Economic opportunity does not just happen. It takes foresight to identify an opening and conviction to act before the chance passes us by. Now is the time for Canadians to decide. Investment in infrastructure and removing barriers to opening foreign markets is needed to preserve the competitiveness of an industry that helps to sustain this community and many others across Canada. Fail to act, and Canada’s prosperity will literally miss the boat.

As the voice of business in Greater Sudbury, the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce supports Canada’s resource sectors as vital to the economy of the entire country.

Until next time, all the best.

Debbi