I am going to give my presentation in French. I will leave 15 seconds for those who need simultaneous translation.
My name is Jean-François Gascon. I work for SNC-Lavalin Environment as a Project Sustainability Leader. Through our division, SNC-Lavalin puts sustainable development programs in place during the implementation phases of projects, particularly in mining and other resource sectors.
As my colleague told you, the ultimate goal of Bill C-300 is very commendable. We share that objective, as do many of our clients and partners in Canada. However, I think that the means being used is probably the worst way of meeting that goal.
The biggest problem with the bill is that there is a sense that it is based on three premises which make me rather uncomfortable. The first is that Canadian companies are not good corporate citizens, particularly in developing countries. My experience in more than three dozen countries, especially developing countries—because I lived in developing countries for many years—tells me that the opposite is in fact true. Canadian companies, particularly in the resources sector, actually have a good reputation, especially in comparison to competitors from foreign countries. I am therefore bothered a bit when I see that that is a premise underlying the bill.
The second premise is that the current legal environment is unable to address the problems and meet the objective, which is to encourage companies to be better corporate citizens in developing countries. I do not think there is a need for a protracted debate on that point. The legal environment is more than sufficient today, whether it is banks or export credit agencies like EDC, which are subject to a set of rules, including the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which has to be applied to projects outside Canada, especially when there is Canadian funding. I think the current legal environment is more than capable of permitting Canadian companies to manage mining projects in developing countries quite effectively.
The third premise is the one I find the most upsetting, especially for those who have travelled in developing countries. The premise is that developing countries do not have sufficient legal capacity or are not mature enough to solve problems, in particular, problems related to human rights or failure to respect the environment. I think this premise is very harmful. A lobby group or an NGO can say things like that publicly, but when the idea forms the basis for legislation tabled by the Government of Canada, I, as a Canadian citizen, am deeply concerned.
Why is this bill aimed only at projects in developing countries? The answer to that question is obvious. People think developed countries are able to solve these problems and developing countries are not. This is a major issue. Developing countries do not want to be treated like children. I think that paternalism is probably the last approach we as Canadians want to use when it comes to addressing these very significant concerns.
I would like to end with a rather telling example that also indicates a change in the way Canadian companies approach foreign projects, particularly in developing countries. Companies talk a lot about community relations. They talk about the celebrated “social licence to operate”, an approach that on the whole is rather passive. They try to solve problems as they arise. However, Canadian companies are increasingly proactive in their approach. For example, there is a very big mining project, one of the biggest in the world, in Madagascar, the Ambatovy project, in which SNC-Lavalin has invested as part of a consortium that includes a Japanese company, a Korean company and another Canadian company. For the implementation and construction phases of the project, three training centres were set up to train more than 6,000 local workers, which helped maximize local employment for the project. Today, the project employs 10,000 people, 85% of them local workers, which is almost unheard of in the mining industry.
A strategy has also been put in place to maximize local procurement, and to date, companies have bought more than $750 million worth of goods and services produced locally or through a local intermediary. Some of the strategies that have been put in place are designed specifically to not only ensure that project implementation, but also to maximize the local benefits of that type of project. I believe this approach should be promoted ahead of the approach where minimum standards are set and companies that behave badly are punished. We welcomed the Canadian government's announcement of the creation of a corporate social responsibility counsellor position, and I think we have to move toward promoting best practices instead of punishing the worst offenders. Thank you.