I have just a couple of questions.
Let me first of all say to both Dr. Coumans and Mr. Janda how much I appreciate the detail of the briefs and the great care and attention that has gone into them to answer I think some of the concerns that certainly have been raised. After 10 o'clock, we'll hear from those who are raising even more and other concerns.
The one question I had that I wanted to give you a chance to respond to is this. There are countries where the rule of law does not apply, where there is a serious gap in terms of regulatory capacity. There are others where that's not the case.
We talk about Argentina, we talk about Chile, and we talk about many countries in Latin America where there are extensive mining activities under way, and where there's an extensive amount of exploration under way and a lot of activity. I think those countries would rather deeply resent the notion that there's a huge governance gap in Chile, say, which is a functioning democracy with a social democratic government that takes some pride in what it's been able to achieve. It doesn't regard itself as a failing state or an area where there's no governance or jurisdiction.
The question I have is with respect to the issue of territoriality. Let's take a company that is doing business in Chile, which has environmental laws, licences, and a whole governmental practice and process. As I understand the legislation as it's proposed, it basically says that's okay, but we don't care about that, and the Canadian minister has an obligation to hear complaints, make a finding, and, upon making a finding, pass on that finding to the Export Development Corporation and the Canada Pension Plan.
Is there a concern that a Canadian company would say, look, we do business in these countries, we have a reasonable record, and they are satisfied with the record, so what more should we be concerned about? Or is the answer that this is not necessarily about whether they comply with Colombian law, Chilean law, or Argentinian law? Is it a question of whether they meet the standard that we have decided, as Canadians, we want to set for our companies and that is independent of anything the country where the activity is taking place might conclude?
The companies have argued that this is a kind of double jeopardy. Do you agree with that? What would be your response to that?