In your statement, you say, “On the investor side, the [METC] subsidizes high-risk investments” and appears to be “predominantly for tax planning purposes". They wouldn't argue with the first part of your sentence. They would say that it does favour high-risk investments, because that's the nature of that industry, especially at the junior exploration level.
If you look at the METC, it's been in effect since 2000, but it was phased out in 2004-2006, I believe. Then it was brought back. Have you done any studies for the years it was not in effect to see if there was a downturn, in fact, in investment in the junior mining sector?