Natural Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, committee members. I have some short opening remarks I would like to make regarding the extractive sector transparency measures act. The act is designed to implement Prime Minister Harper's 2013 G-8 commitment to contribute to global anti-cor

Natural Resources committee  At the G-8 in 2013, the U.K. Prime Minister, Prime Minister Cameron, who was the chair that year, asked that countries, G-8 leaders, contribute to a global standard on mandatory reporting. In this regard, the United States has legislation in the works to bring in mandatory repor

Natural Resources committee  There's not a formal group, but we do.... In terms of the United Kingdom, they have been sharing with us, as they can, information on their legislation. We have also visited with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We went down there in the spring, although they're now

Natural Resources committee  At this point in time, as I noted in my opening remarks, Canada has quite a global reach for its mining and oil and gas industries. What can often happen is this. Our companies that operate in some of these countries—they operate, for example, a mine—pay their taxes and royalti

Natural Resources committee  It will brand them as a responsible resource developer internationally. Canada has a very good reputation, and this will enhance that reputation even further when operating abroad. Domestically, by implementing the same standards at home, it shows that we're walking the talk, whi

Natural Resources committee  I don't have any evidence of that.

Natural Resources committee  Well, when we went out to do our consultations, engagement and information sessions with stakeholders over the past year, we heard from industry that because these payments are oftentimes included in impact benefit agreements with aboriginal organizations, they felt it would be u

Natural Resources committee  In this case, it does apply in the domestic context as well. Prime Minister Cameron, when he asked G-8 leaders to support the common global standard, pointed to a lot of corruption that's happening in developing countries. For example, in Nigeria, they went through a process wh

Natural Resources committee  As I said in my opening comments, we're trying to align with the common global standard. The issue of the ombudsman has not been raised in this regard in terms of the legislation that's being brought forward in the U.K. and the European Union. With respect to the U.S. legislation

Natural Resources committee  Okay. As I noted earlier, the threshold is $100,000, and that's broken down by categories of payment. The payment categories are taxes, royalties, fees, production entitlements, bonuses, dividends, and payments for infrastructure improvements. Those are the broad categories. T

Natural Resources committee  I'm going to ask my colleague Ekaterina to respond to that.

Natural Resources committee  We are planning to go across the country to visit with first nations communities. We are developing the plan now. We haven't finalized our plan or our budget, but we do plan to do a comprehensive engagement.

Natural Resources committee  No. The U.S. was the first out of the blocks, and they used a $100,000 threshold. Then the Europeans followed suit with 100,000 euros, and then for us, to try to align, it was $100,000 Canadian.

Natural Resources committee  No, I outlined the categories. Once payments—either one-time payments or a series of payments—hit the $100,000 threshold, they have to be reported. There's just one threshold.

Natural Resources committee  What I can say is that when we consulted with industry, some of our larger companies said the threshold should be much higher, for example, $1 million. They said even $100,000 for them is quite granular. Some of the smaller junior companies said maybe $10,000 would be appropriate