Mr. Speaker, May 3 to May 7 in Montreal the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum will celebrate its centennial so the government is releasing a new stamp honouring mining. It would be better if it acted on federal issues which endanger mining jobs.
Unsettled native land claims make land ownership and mineral tenure uncertain. That uncertainty was made worse by the supreme court's Delgamuukw decision which raised expectations so high as to endanger settling native claims.
In B.C. alone 50 major land claims are on the table with more to come. Not knowing who is the landlord scares away investors. But Canada's high taxes along with an unfavourable tax structure as well as federal-provincial overlap of regulations also prevent opening new mines.
On the east coast the same negative federal policies combined with low nickel prices have delayed thousands of jobs at Voisey's Bay, Labrador.
It is past time that this government acted on House committee reports to protect Canada's 350,000 mining jobs and help promote new ones instead of just issuing a stamp.