Thank you for the opportunity to appear today in support of a free trade agreement with the Pacific Alliance.
Canada is a mining nation. Mining is a significant engine of the Canadian economy, contributing $57 billion to national GDP. The sector employs more than 400,000 people directly and an additional 196,000 indirectly, supports one of the largest supply sectors in the world, and is a top employer of indigenous peoples.
Mining and associated activities, both domestic and international, generate significant economic benefits that flow to Canadians. For example, metal and non-metal mining products accounted for 19%—or nearly $90 billion—of the total export value of Canada's exports in 2016. Mining also accounted for a significant volume of Canadian direct investment abroad, exceeding $90 billion in 2016.
Much of this investment that is raised on the open market is transacted in Canada. As the global centre for mining finance, the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange list 57% of the world's publicly traded mining companies.
Recent data indicates that roughly 1,211 of the firms listed on the TSX-V and TSX are mining companies and that together they have a combined market value exceeding $310 billion. At the end of December 2017, $8.4 billion in mining equity had been raised on the exchange. A significant volume of this equity is raised for projects in Latin America, which jurisdictionally comprises the largest number of projects financed outside of Canada. That's 18%, or more than 1,100 projects overall.
The assets of Canadian companies operating in the Pacific Alliance nations of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru combined exceeded $48.9 billion in 2015. As a recent stat update, that's nearly $80 billion in 2016.
Underscoring the significance of these countries for mining, together they account for 29% of the total value of Canadian mining assets abroad. Further, internal analysis of eight MAC member countries revealed that Canadian combined mining investment into Pacific Alliance countries in 2016 exceeded $5.8 billion, underscoring that these assets are active.
Further, acknowledging that Australia, Canada's principal global competitor in the mining space, was also invited to become an associate member of the Pacific Alliance underscores the critical importance of Canada's active engagement in the negotiation of a free trade agreement with the bloc.
The alliance members—Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—are business-minded. They're generally socially progressive countries. They embrace a rules-based democratic order and have more than 221 million consumers and a combined GDP equivalent to the world's sixth-largest economy.
MAC recognizes that Canada already has comprehensive FTAs with all four members of the Pacific Alliance. That said, an FTA with the alliance as a bloc offers the chance to modernize and expand elements of the existing bilateral FTAs, thus improving legal certainty and transparency for Canadian businesses with ties to the region.
Further, acknowledging the significant uncertainty around the fate of NAFTA and, as we heard earlier from Erin, significant uncertainty around trade globally, generally speaking, this provides an opportunity to create greater linkages in a new space and in a new way that counteracts that.
In addition to focusing on reducing tariffs and easing the movement of goods, services, people, and capital, the Pacific Alliance is also building deeper co-operation through measures such as integrating regulation and addressing emerging issues like the digital economy. The goal is to make the bloc more competitive in global trade, not just to implement measures to make it easier to trade with one another.
I believe, and the Mining Association believes, that Canada should be party to this agreement and engage and be at the table.
Thank you. I'd be pleased to answer any questions you may have.