We have found this in everything we do globally. We are a part of the global economy par excellence, more than almost any other economy in the world. So we have to be globally competitive. Are we going to be the only country in the world that goes after its own mining companies and singles them out for their behaviour abroad? Are there other alternatives that are better in terms of enhancing CSR? That's what we all want to do, but not by killing the goose that's laying the egg.
I fear that Canadian headquartered mining companies, because they will be at a competitive disadvantage compared with the rest of the world, will simply move out of Canada. We saw this happen back in the early 1970s when the Carter report was acted upon by the Liberal government at that time. Companies such as Hunter Douglas moved their headquarters out of Canada to the Netherlands because we were going to be taxing all global income at the higher of Canadian or foreign rates.
We were able to get that law changed by working with the government and companies that wanted to have their global headquarters based in Canada. It's the very same with the mining sector. We're the leader in the world. Can't we still be the leader, not only in the world in terms of the economics of it and of continuing to grow it, but also in terms of CSR?
There are better ways to do CSR without shafting the Canadian companies.