Feds set deadline for resource company payment reporting
by CanadianManufacturing.com Staff
The move is a reaction to ongoing revelations that extractive companies have been paying foreign governments and their proxies vast sums to win lucrative resource engineering deals.
OTTAWA—Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver signaled his government’s intent to implement mandatory reporting standards for resource companies.
He also told the provinces to enact equivalent standards before April 1, 2015, which is when his government will enact the legislation.
The mandatory reporting standards developed by the Government would require Canadian extractive companies to publicly report payments more than $100,000 to all levels of government both domestically and internationally.
These reports would be posted to company websites and the public would be notified.
The move is a reaction to ongoing revelations that extractive companies—including the once-shining beacon of Canadian expertise SNC-Laval—have been paying foreign governments and their proxies vast sums to land lucrative resource engineering deals.
Oliver laid out the plan while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) International Convention, Trade Show and Investors Exchange.
Calling Canada the mining capital of the world, the Minister highlighted the reporting standards and other actions that strengthen and grow the mining industry, including:
- the Government’s plan for Responsible Resource Development, ensuring world-class environmental protection while providing certainty for investors;
- a $100 million, seven-year commitment for the Geo-Mapping for Energy and Minerals (GEM) Plan, helping exploration companies find deposits and create jobs;
- extending the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit in Economic Action Plan 2014, which has helped junior exploration companies raise $5 billion in capital; and,
- pursuing an aggressive international free trade agenda, including the conclusion of a comprehensive free trade deal with the European Union
Canadian mining and mineral processing is a big deal. It contributes $60 billion to Canada’s GDP, provides employment to about 400,000 and accounts for about 20 per cent of Canada’s exports.
Business news organization Bloomberg recently ranked Canada second only to Hong Kong as the world’s most attractive country for business.
