First of all, does everybody have a copy of this deck that was circulated? Good. I'll go through this as best I can.
As you can see from the first chart, the value of production is about $60 billion. It's one of the largest industries in Canada when you work it all out. If you were to compare it, say, dollar for dollar with the forestry sector....
The forestry sector includes forest products; we don't. We go only as far as the primary metal stage, which is the material that goes into the manufacturing process. If you were to do that in forestry, you would probably do it with pulp, not paper. It's a manufactured product. So this is one of the largest natural resource industries, if you compare apples to apples, even with the oil and gas sector as opposed to energy.
You'll notice on the next chart that it is a large investor of capital abroad. In fact, that alternates between energy and our sector, the mining sector.
They are in over 100 countries. Between the exploration industry and the mining industry, it is indeed the face of Canada internationally. Whether you like the face or not, it's there. They are all through South America, and if it hadn't been for the mining industry, which invested over $10 billion in Chile, and they're investing more in South America.... It's opening doors to free trade agreements. It's one of the major factors that opens those doors. It opens doors as well for the suppliers of consulting services, equipment, and other types of supplies.
Currently, the industry is investing nearly $6 billion in Africa, with plans of another $15 billion over the next five years. It's global. You're dealing with a global industry.
As you can see from the next chart, right now the total amount of Canadian direct investment is roughly $50 billion, but there will be a lot more.
The next chart, on page 5, shows you a cluster that says the mining industry supports activities in all these other areas. One of the most important areas is the financial community--the Toronto Stock Exchange, the brokers, the banks. I've met with them two to three times. They are very much tied to our mining industry.
If you go to the next chart, you see on page 6 the Toronto Stock Exchange. It's one of the most important exchanges in the world, and they will continue to be as long as we have support for the mining industry.
Page 7 gives you just some flavour of some of the most important centres that relate to mining across Canada, including Toronto. Toronto is the headquarters of most of our major companies. It's our financial community. It's a number of other things.
If you look at R and D, on page 8, there are R and D centres across Canada. We have found out that there are nearly 1,200 aboriginal communities within a couple of hundred kilometres of a mine. One point that is extremely important is that the aboriginal communities have a young population. They need jobs. The mining industry, the forest industry, and others can provide opportunities for them as long as they have the capacity to meet the skill requirements within those industries, because the mining industry and the forestry industry are in those areas where they live.
If you go to the next page, page 10, you see all these little dots. Those are aboriginal communities--just to give you a feeling for it--right across the country.
The Canadian mining industry is largely Canadian controlled. That is an important factor. As long as it's Canadian controlled, it means the following: we will use largely consulting services from Canada; we will purchase largely from Canada in terms of supplies or equipment. It also offers opportunities in terms of bilateral relationships with many countries, because they see Canada as having the expertise and the wherewithal to make investments in their countries, and so on. So they're always coming here. It's a very important factor. I have enough experience in the field to tell you that this is indeed the case.
I don't have to go into a lot of detail, other than to say that if you look at the question of inorganics, we produce an inorganic material from an environmental point of view. Metal is one material that can be recycled ad infinitum, as long as you can capture the material. Gold is a perfect example; you never throw that away. Copper can be recycled ad infinitum, and so on. It's a very important factor.
R and D in Canada has been falling badly. Consequently, I consider this one of the shortcomings with what is happening today in Canada with regard to R and D.
There are a number of international issues set out on page 15.
Concerning market access, Europe is continually putting up constraints to our markets. They did it in lumber, but they're doing it in metals as well. They have a number of risk assessments that are saying you shouldn't use nickel for this and maybe you shouldn't use zinc for that, etc. They don't say get rid of everything, but they restrict your market access incrementally. It's a big issue.
Today we have competition from China, India, and Brazil. So the question I hope you would think about is, what is the strength of Canada? How do we build for the long term? What is our greatest strength? Is it in manufacturing, or is it in natural resources? If so, how do we use our natural resource industries to provide for a longer-term, competitive future? If you lose the natural resources industries, what do you have left in terms of a meaningful future for Canadians?
There are investment restrictions, and of course we have a problem with image. Last year I met with the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and they were very concerned, and rightfully so, about some of the problems that occur in some of the developing countries.
There are a number of domestic issues. We have a number of problems in Canada. First of all, we do have the question of mergers and acquisitions. What does this mean? Regulatory burdens: they're rather complicated and long, and we're hoping they'll be streamlined. We have problems with skilled labour shortages. We need our geoscience base. That is an extremely important factor for exploration. There are infrastructure shortages, notably in the north. As for base metal reserves, again we need exploration and geology. Then there are the issues of declining mining R and D and aboriginal involvement in the industry.
That's a general overview. You have an annex, and I know the time is short, but I want to give you a feeling for some of the areas where we play fairly significant roles.
Canada, and our group in particular, established the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining. I am the international chairman, and developing countries from around the world are members. It's an opportunity to position Canada, to try to influence the regulatory system over mining, because many of our companies are very concerned about how arbitrary the situations are in many developing countries, and so we are working on that.
We helped established the African Mining Partnership, which is 26 African governments that now meet annually. Canada is the only other country invited to their meetings. As I mentioned before, we have big investments in Africa, and there are opportunities in Africa over time.
Also it shows you federal-provincial responsibilities. We play a very significant role with the provinces. I co-chair a federal-provincial committee of all provinces and territories. Last year we had at least 10 meetings, and we are holding our next meeting for mines ministers in Whitehorse, Yukon.
I hear, “You're in an area of provincial jurisdiction.” No, we're not. We're dealing with international matters. We are dealing with issues of national concern, national standards. We deal with science that complements theirs. We are not in their jurisdiction.
There is the question of environmental assessments. A very good ruling in Alberta not too long ago said we have the option now of complementing each other during an environmental assessment, and that's the way to go. So we are working things out.
Page 18 gives you a feeling for some of the work we do with some of the provinces. The average wages give you an idea. In the last 20 years nearly 60% of transportation in this country has been tied to mining. We have a number of relationships with various countries, and you get a feeling for it on page 22.
Canada is still the big source of equity financing, certainly for our exploration industry. This industry can do an awful lot for Canada, if it's done right.
You will notice we have over 7,000 properties in different countries worldwide. That tells you of the opportunities. On page 25 we list projects that show you the relative importance of different regions.
That, Mr. Chairman, is a general overview of the mining industry, as I see it. I hope it was within 10 minutes.