With your permission, I will be sharing my time with Ms. Lalonde
Good morning. A broad consultation was conducted over two years and a report was prepared. People were consulted from all walks of life—civil society, the mining industry and experts. The report recommends above all that non-compliers no longer be entitled to tax advantages, to loan guarantees or to other forms of government assistance.
On the matter of the government's accountability strategy, can you give us some examples of non-compliant companies? What is the government, or are the EDC people doing when they learn that a company is breaching the Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries where they are operating? For instance, in Peru, in 2004, some 40 cases of non-compliant companies were reported.
What is the reaction of Canadian government representatives in the face of these businesses that commit violations of human rights or environmental offences, for instance?