International Trade committee  You mean in Canada.

International Trade committee  I would just reiterate that under our CSR policy, which we talked about briefly before, our standards are pretty absolute. We're not going into Honduras because we can get away with something there that we couldn't get away with in Canada. Environmentally we're enforcing the Worl

International Trade committee  It is not the case for Chinese companies, with all due respect. It is the case for Canadian companies in general. We're all listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. We would be dead if we didn't enforce the absolute standard.

International Trade committee  I think the free trade agreement will spur more mines because of the investment protection.

International Trade committee  Maybe starting at the micro level in economic terms for our company, we employ, as I said, 700 to 800 people, depending on the particular phase of production. Beyond that, there's a whole contracted community that's probably three times that. We enforce on that entire ecosystem o

International Trade committee  I definitely do. It's an eager audience with open ears, and Canada's very highly respected. I mean, for CSR, Canada is more respected than the United States. It's very balanced. They have a good track record. We work very closely with the embassy. We work very closely with ITC. W

International Trade committee  It helps hugely to have.... In recent events that we've had, we've needed the federal government, the federal government's environmental ministry, the federal government's mining ministry, and the federal government's attorney general for human rights. We see all of these people

International Trade committee  At the micro level, there are lots of examples in the areas we operate: health clinics, schools, road maintenance, jobs. There are the taxes we pay to the municipality, that the municipality uses to do those things as well; our direct projects, plus the indirect projects that go

International Trade committee  From my perspective, I totally agree, and I reiterate that engagement is the best policy. We have the standards, we have the products, the systems, and the processes on CSR. If there's nobody to talk to, if there's no forum to speak to people, if we're not engaged, we can't sprea

International Trade committee  CSR obviously generally encompasses environmental, human rights, labour, and community, including procurement-type things. But Canada is clearly a leader, and we are flag-bearers in the places where we operate. We have to get local permits, but that's not our standard. Our standa

International Trade committee  We do. If you look at the countries we operate in—Honduras, Brazil, and Mexico—Honduras is the least developed by far of those countries. So we are, in some ways, transferring CSR technology into Honduras. I can't say that for Mexico or Brazil. They're very evolved and more adva

International Trade committee  I talked a little bit about the mining sector. It's a very strong sector. Honduras, geologically speaking, is a mining target. So the investment protection provision of this agreement will make a big difference in the required rate of return that you have to make on an investmen

International Trade committee  You have to look at it from the perspective of the Hondurans. I would say that if you look at it purely economically, logistically a big part of the infrastructure of the country is wrapped up in security. Can you get a truck across the road? Can you get a truck to go down the ro

International Trade committee  There's a couple of things in the Honduran legislation. The mandate of our team and of our company is Latin America. We're mining in the Americas, so we all speak Spanish and Portuguese. In Honduras, that 6% that I referenced is the highest tax rate in Latin America on the revenu

International Trade committee  Yes, it's eight million to ten million.