Madam Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on private member's motion No. 295. It states:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should table emergency legislation regarding operating assistance for gold mines in Canada, in order to help gold mine operators cope with the rapid increase in production costs, and at the same time guaranteeing a fixed price for the gold they produce.
I commend the hon. member for bringing his concerns about Canada's gold mine industry and his region to the floor of the House.
However, after carefully listening to the hon. member I am still having great difficulty understanding where the emergency is in the gold mining industry. It is no surprise that the parliamentary secretary refused consent or that the government is unwilling to adopt this motion.
With the motion the hon. member is exonerating himself in the eyes of his gold mining constituency. I guess we can regret that he could not satisfy the concerns of his gold mine constituency in his talks with cabinet colleagues. It seems that they have told him to take his concern to private members' business because as a government his own party will not implement the motion. The parliamentary secretary was quite articulate and very blunt in refusing to adopt the motion. I am not sure that this is the case, but I do not know what else could have happened.
The motion asks for subsidies for gold mining in Canada and a fixed price for the gold these mines produce. In British Columbia we do not like unfair subsidies from this weak Liberal government that lacks vision. The government subsidizes industries destined to fail or which have already failed.
We know the Liberals have destroyed our health care system and are not addressing Canada's $640 billion debt, but they will spend taxpayer dollars anywhere they think they can buy votes. Canadians do not want the Liberals' subsidies, extra regulations, trade restrictions, price fixing or anything else of that nature. Businesses want the government off their backs.
Let us look at British Columbia's mining industry and gold mining. That will give me an opportunity to discuss mining in British Columbia and gold mining as whole. Mining is a major contributor to the British Columbian and Canadian economies in the form of employment, taxes and exports. Across Canada it generates 60% of rail revenue and accounts for 70% of total port volume.
In British Columbia mining generates over $4 billion in revenue and $1 billion in government taxes per year. Mining is a leading employer in British Columbia, with substantial potential to do more. It has 10,000 direct jobs and 20,000 indirect jobs.
Mining is a world leading source of expertise and venture capital. British Columbian companies fund mining projects worldwide.
Mining pays the highest wages and benefits of any industry.
It is an environmentally and socially responsible industry. Mining lands are reclaimed and at the end of a mine's life the land can be put to other uses.
British Columbia's mineral potential is considered to be among the leaders in the world. British Columbia has over 14,000 known mineral occurrences and untold mineral potential.
Actual land usage for a mine is extremely small relative to the area explored, with less than 28,000 hectares currently being used by mining, which is less than 0.03% of British Columbia's land base. Mining's value in terms of use of land is $150,000 per hectare compared to forestry at $5,700 per hectare, agriculture at $1,400 per hectare, and parks at $42 per hectare.
There are many other benefits. There were 103 kilometres of roads or trails built for mineral exploration in 1993. At the same time there were 11,400 kilometres of road built for forestry.
In 1999 exploration expenditures totalled $25 million or less than 10% of 1990 levels. In the past 10 years, two mines closed for every one that opened.
In British Columbia we are against this motion. How can we support subsidizing gold mines and leave out other mines and other industries? At least those industries provide a national purpose. Conversely, the health of the gold mining industry, other than preserving jobs, serves little public interest. Consequently, public dollars should not be spent subsidizing the industry.
There is one gold mine in British Columbia, the Eskay Creek mine, which produces gold at a production cost of less than $100 an ounce. In Canada it is second in cost production for gold. This is excellent work. There is no subsidy needed. Why should that mine's good work be confounded by a fixed price when it comes time for it to sell its products?
Canada is the second largest country in the world in area and we are very rich in our natural resources. These natural resources, including minerals, oil and gas, are important sources for a brighter future for our country. Unfortunately the federal Liberal government lacks vision and strategic planning in developing, exploring and utilizing these resources. It lacks a balanced approach between resource development and environmental concerns.
We should have more resource based industries in Canada. For example, at the Vancouver port we can see lot of sulphur being exported from Canada. It can be seen from quite a distance. I wonder if we are exporting these raw resources and then importing finished products made from these resources in other countries. Why are we not able to encourage investors and manufacturers who will boost our economy and create jobs in Canada? It is a tragedy under this weak, arrogant Liberal government that rules rather than governs the land.
The story of the mining industry in Canada is a tragedy. The amount of regulation and red tape is unbelievable. The federal and provincial jurisdictions are either overlapping or absolutely unclear. Federal and provincial taxes are way too high. This weak government has a confrontational approach to the provinces rather than a co-operative approach. Mining operations require investing a lot of time and energy as well as the investment of other kinds of resources. It is a long term process to explore for minerals. Adverse government policies have driven miners from all kinds of mines, including gold mines, south of the border. In Chile, for example, we have a $12 billion U.S. investment, mostly in the mining industry.
In the city of Surrey in my constituency there are a number of companies that deal with the mining industry. I am very proud to mention RAS Industries. It manufactures the largest pulleys in the world for mining operations and exports them around the world. There are many other organizations of international repute in Surrey.
Rather than fixing the price for gold, what the weak Liberal government should fix is the infrastructure, the regulations and the taxation policies. It should at least make a feeble attempt to fix these things rather than fixing the price of gold, which is in the hands of the global market anyway. The price of gold is fixed through the commodity market exchanges or through the intervention of the central banks, the national banks or the reserve banks of various countries. It is a global phenomenon. Canada does not have the jurisdiction, the authority, the power or the resources to fix the price of gold.
The government should listen to our resource based communities and should accommodate the input from them in the policy formulation for natural resources. Simply mentioning in the throne speech of 1996 the need to sustain our natural resources is just not enough. Where is the action?
Natural resources contribute about 15% to our GDP. The government must develop a vision and make policies and regulations conducive to sustainable development, benefiting the economy, creating jobs, benefiting communities and, on the whole, protecting our environment.
Since this is a private member's motion, I have been very kind in my remarks. If it had been a government bill or motion, I would have been quite brutal.