Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Our organization represents a variety of companies and individuals involved in exploration and mining in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. We have over 800 members, from prospectors, junior exploration companies, companies with operating mines, service companies of all kinds, and, increasingly, aboriginal corporations that are participating in the mining industry as never before. Our service company members comprise those engaged in aviation, drilling, trucking, construction, expediting, and catering, as well as many others. Many northerners make their living directly or indirectly from the mining industry.
On behalf of the northern mining industry, I will be speaking against passage of this bill.
The Northwest Territories and Nunavut cover fully one-third of Canada's land mass. The combination of size, rugged geography, high costs, and harsh climate are formidable barriers to development. As a result, we have the most poorly developed infrastructure in Canada. These barriers often limit our options for substantial economic development.
Today mining is the north's largest industry. When combined with exploration investment, our industry is a $2 billion concern. With new mining development, we foresee mining's value reaching $3 billion annually in the not too distant future. It's the number one employer outside of government, with over 2,500 directly employed at the Northwest Territory's mines alone. Mining represents half of the Northwest Territory's economy, with half of its GDP coming from mining. It is a growing industry in Nunavut, with one producing mine and two more recently getting regulatory approval and soon to be entering the construction stage.
As an important generator of significant jobs and business opportunities, we support the increase of northern and aboriginal benefits. Mining also has the potential to stimulate the development of new infrastructure like roads, ports, and hydro-electric operations which will also benefit the communities of our region. However, an effective labour code will be integral to the mining industry's being able to provide those long-term benefits to northern residents. We are not convinced that the proposed legislation will help us.
We know there are some who would raise the Northwest Territories giant mine strike as a prime justification for anti-replacement-worker legislation. To do so would be to overly simplify the complicated conditions surrounding that strike. No official inquiry has been held to determine what initiated the strike and the resulting actions taken by both the employer and the union. This is unfortunate, as from our perspective a secret ballot vote may have reversed the outcome, as would have earlier forced mediation. Our position on restricting the use of replacement workers has nothing to do with that unfortunate piece of history.
The reality of northern mining today is that new mines are located in very remote parts of our country, accessible only with difficulty. New mines are stand-alone camps with workers commuting by air for variable work schedules. The mines generate their own electricity, operate all their own municipal-type services, and are serviced by difficult seasonal transportation links. Our new diamond mines are serviced by an eight- to twelve-week ice road. This ice road is built annually and operated for that very short period. It crosses over 700 kilometres of frozen lakes and tundra. In comparison, Calgary to Regina is 763 kilometres; Toronto to Quebec City is 792 kilometres. This road is built and maintained at the mine's expense.
The stand-alone remote nature of the northern mines means they must transport over this very short period and long distance an entire year's supply of such items as fuel, both for operations and power generation; explosives; steel; cement; truck tires; and other essential supplies, which then must be stored on-site. This year the operating mines alone plan to ship over 10,500 truckloads of materials and supplies north during this short season.
Previously our mines in the high Arctic were serviced by ice-breaking cargo ships with about a five-month shipping window. New mines planned for Nunavut will need sea-lift or barge resupply during the short shipping window. These mines are and will be particularly vulnerable to work stoppages during the short seasonal shipping windows.
A union could use this shipping vulnerability to leverage its demands. By going on strike during this period, a union would essentially hold the mining company to ransom. In the worst-case scenario, the mine would be forced to close. Even if only part of the essential freight missed the transportation window, the mine’s viability could be undermined. Should the mine be forced to make costly concessions to strikers, mining costs would be driven up, and the life of the operation could be shortened.
Modern mines are complex operations, operating in a very complex regulatory regime within strict environmental legislation, and are subject to a number of agreements that are conditions of their licences. They are required to provide benefits to northerners, and particularly aboriginal northerners, in the form of employment, training, and business opportunities. In addition, they make direct payments to aboriginal communities under the terms of impact benefit agreements. To add the uncertainty of labour action interfering with the already tenuous and time-sensitive logistic links would add an unnecessary burden to the operations and possibly make them uneconomic.