Mr. Chair, I am disappointed that there were no other members of Parliament or other parties, although my colleague from the Bloc appears to have been willing to vote with me if either of us had been allowed to have a vote.
What the Parti vert is doing here is being more aggressive in getting rid of the mining tax credit by changing the language of the amendment so that not only is it not extended, but there is an actual retreat to the year 2017.
I appreciate the comments from my friend Mr. Albas. I just want to say that I worked extensively with the Mining Association of Canada. Before I became involved in partisan politics, I was actually on the advisory board of the Mining Association of Canada and their towards sustainable mining initiative.
I completely agree that a lot of the larger mining companies show a lot of care and concern, and I wouldn't want my comments to apply to the mining industry in general. But there is no reason—and I think that the essence of conservatism should agree with this—to essentially give a $30-million tax bonus to mining companies to encourage exploration. The mining companies most likely to do environmental damage are the junior prospectors and junior miners. Many of those companies aren't members of the Mining Association of Canada.
I continue to maintain that this is a perverse subsidy. The federal government doesn't need to give mining companies money to mine, and it particularly doesn't need to give a tax credit to encourage exploration in places where you're unlikely to find anything except for a tax credit.