Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I agree fully on the importance of FIPAs and on EDC, which has been given an importantly improved mandate in this recent budget. I think that's all very good. You mentioned free trade agreements. These things take an awful lot of time, but they're worthwhile when we get them. In

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  But that's part of it; we need an ombudsman with proper....

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  It won't only be companies that don't consent. I'll bet you that in many cases companies will consent. It will be the NGOs who turn tail. So many of these actions or claims or whatever are frivolous. Let's have a proper ombudsman. I agree with you on that.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  It's a shame that, as you put it, the only solution is Bill C-300. I mean, what we really need.... We had a proper consultation, a proper negotiation, proper systems, and reports being tabled. It took two years for the government to respond to that report, and they came back wi

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I've seen it.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  I did an interview for the CBC in French. The reporter went into the studio and said, “I have an interview with John Baird.” There was silence. My wife was listening to the radio, and the reporter said, “Yes, it is Jon Baird, but this one is very nice.“

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  That happened on CBC--live.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  It was at Chatham General Hospital. Do you want the date?

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  In terms of the taking over of Inco, and Falconbridge, and Noranda, and Alcan, there's something you should know. In 2002...and these are balance sheet numbers now, off Canadian-domiciled mining companies and exploration companies—that is, companies with head offices in Canada. I

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Well, I think when you first raised the bill.... Am I correct that it was over two years ago when you first proposed this bill?

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Well, it's in some newer format then.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Yes.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  That's right.

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  Well, then, I will accept what you say. I'm speaking now for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, which did participate, actively, in those round tables, and has done a lot of work on its own in talking to industry to ensure it has proper guidelines with respect

Subcommittee on Canadian Industrial Sectors committee  The mining industry is quite fragmented in many respects. We don't have a sense of national purpose. I heard this from the other groups talking--I think it was the biotechnology people--and I said to myself, “Gee whiz, it's the same thing”. We in mining compare ourselves with A