The head of Canada’s Conservative Party says a government led by him would aim to approve all federal permits for Ontario’s Ring of Fire minerals region within six months to speed the harvesting of chromite, cobalt, nickel, copper and platinum.

Pierre Poilievre made the pledge Wednesday ahead of an election call that’s expected within days. A Conservative government would also commit C$1-billion over three years to building a road connecting Indigenous communities and the mineral deposits in the area to the Ontario highway network, he said.

“We could boost our economy with billions of dollars, allowing us to become less dependent on the Americans, while our allies overseas would no longer have to rely on Beijing for these metals, turning dollars for dictators into paychecks for our people,” Poilievre said.

The vast Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario was found to be replete with nickel, copper and chromite decades ago but has no clear timeline for development. Premier Doug Ford’s government has pledged close to C$1 billion to build the road and other infrastructure.

Governments in Canada have long promised to accelerate the country’s sluggish approval processes for critical minerals projects. Still, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson has tempered expectations for the Ring of Fire, calling it a “challenging space” to develop due to environmental and Indigenous concerns.

Poilievre also said his government would allow companies investing in the Ring of Fire to pay a share of their corporate taxes to local Indigenous groups.

Polls suggest the Conservatives are in a tight race with the Liberal Party, led by new Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has also stressed the need to develop the country’s critical minerals and speed up project approvals.

The Conservative leader promised to repeal the Liberal government’s environmental assessment law and seek to make critical minerals investments count toward the NATO defense spending target of 2% of gross domestic product. He accused the current government of blocking resources development, putting Canada in a weaker position as the US president threatens its economy and sovereignty.

“This gatekeeping and red tape was devastating for Canada before Donald Trump threatened tariffs on our economy,” Poilievre said. “Now, it is an act of economic suicide.”