In June 2012, Maude Barlow stated at our ‘Shout Out Against Mining Injustice’ conference in Vancouver, “The biggest and worst mining operations in the world are Canadian. And do Canadian mining companies ever have a friend in Stephen Harper, who refuses to put any leash whatsoever on their practices. Canadian mining companies are notorious for refusing to cooperate in investigations in Latin America that involve violence against local anti-mining activists, knowing they face no penalty back in Canada at all. Harper and his government defeated a private member’s bill that would have given the government limited authority to at least withhold funding from some companies charged with violations by local communities in the global South.”
The recent news about the resignation of Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright only reinforces Barlow’s comments from last June.
This weekend, CBC reported, “Last year, (Wright) was reviewed (by the parliamentary ethics officer) because he had been lobbied by Barrick Gold three times (reportedly about the controversial Pascua Lama mine on the Chile-Argentine border) while working in the Prime Minister’s Office. Wright is friends with Barrick Gold founder Peter Munk, and his son, Anthony, who worked with Wright at Onex.”
And yesterday, the Globe and Mail reported, “Ian Telfer, the chairman of Goldcorp Inc., called Mr Wright’s departure unfortunate. Canada, he said, ‘has lost the input from a great representative of the business community.'” Goldcorp is behind the notorious Marlin mine in Guatemala and other destructive mining projects.
Wright joined the Prime Minister’s Office in September 2010. As many will remember, the Conservative government voted against private members Bill C-300, ‘An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries’ in late-October 2010.
For more, please read:
UPDATE: Sinking the Harper agenda through our mining injustice campaign
Ethics commissioner should release report on PMO’s dealings with Barrick Gold
UPDATE: Ailish Morgan poses questions at Goldcorp shareholders meeting
NEWS: C-300 defeated 140-134