The Globe and Mail reports that, “A lobbying blitz on Parliament Hill may have sealed the defeat of (C-300) that lost (by just six votes) in the House of Commons.”
“Records filed with Canada’s lobbying watchdog show nine of the 24 MPs who skipped the vote last month were lobbied by the mining industry.”
“The nine absent MPs lobbied by the mining industry were Liberals Scott Andrews, Scott Brison, Martha Hall Findlay, Keith Martin, John McCallum, Geoff Regan and Anthony Rota, as well as New Democrats Charlie Angus and Bruce Hyer.”
“Fifteen other Liberal, NDP, Bloc Quebecois and independent MPs also skipped the Oct. 27 vote, but records show they were not lobbied by the mining industry.”
“All but one Conservative MP voted against the bill. Former environment minister Jim Prentice missed the vote because he was on his way to China for trade talks.”
“The registry shows MPs were lobbied by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Goldcorp Inc., Vale Canada Inc., Iamgold Corp., the Mining Association of Canada, Stillwater Mining Company and Xstrata Nickel.”
“The lobbyist registry reveals the mining industry put a full-court press on Parliament Hill in the days and weeks leading up to the late October vote. Lobbyists for mining companies and industry groups reported dozens of ‘communications’ with MPs, senators, political staff and senior bureaucrats in September and October. Some were one-on-one meetings, while others were with groups of people.”
To read about how the Mining Association of Canada lobbies for Schedule 2, please go to http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=4594.
The full Globe and Mail article is at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mining-industry-lobbied-nine-of-24-mps-who-helped-kill-ethics-bill/article1795614/?.
