Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
First, I want to tell you I am impressed to be addressing such a panel of experts. I will dare make my comments anyway.
I do not think anybody here is against mining companies. But personally, if there is one thing I am against, it is impunity. The situation is somewhat uncomfortable. For several weeks now, we have been examining Bill C-300. We hear many individuals and NGOs who talk to us about horrible things happening in Africa, in South America, and the Philippines. Whether we like it or not, we can relate very much to this evidence. It is not like it is anything new for the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to make this kind of investigation. As early as 2005, it looked into this issue.
Its 14th report was entitled “Mining in Developing Countries and Corporate Social Responsibility”. The government responded to the report, and here is what it had to say, “Consequently, issues of the type raised by the Committee are likely to increase in both intensity and volume in the coming years--”.
We are in 2009, just before 2010, and we are still debating this same issue. Since 2005, we had extensive consultations over a period of two years, and the result was a report with a number of recommendations. A wide consensus emerged between members of the civil society, experts, and people from mining companies.
Do you think we could design a bill that would include these recommendations from the report resulting from roundtables? Would that be better than Bill C-300? I gather from what you said that this bill is--