Stop kicking a wounded industry

Tighten government spending? Slash the federal deficit? These appear but a daydream of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Certainly it’s a message that has not got through to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), a federal government agency that is spending close to $2 billion annually, much with what is tantamount to abandon.

When, oh when, are the bureaucrats running that unwieldy administration going to learn the hard economic facts of life. And certainly one fact is that the mining industry in this country is hurting. And it’s hurting because we are losing our all-important export markets to Third World developing countries, some of which are pouring out metals from big mines with wage scales just a tenth (and less) of those being paid in this country.

The copper mines in Chile and Peru are classic examples, and have all but killed that industry in this country. And, as we repeatedly pointed out at the time, it was the previous benevolent administration of Pierre Elliott Trudeau that poured millions of our tax dollars to expand those mines. And at the very time we were cutting back and shutting down our own operations. Indeed some of our big B.C. copper mines may never reopen. But not for any lack of ore, or at least what was then classified as ore.

And apparently we are still at it. For elsewhere on this page is a story from Sudbury that its Laurentian University is going to host an international conference on mineral exploration and mineral economics sponsored by the United Nations. This will focus directly on Third World and developing nations, teaching them our know-how on finding and developing mines. This conference will be funded directly by CIDA.

Well goodie, goodie for Laurentian University and the United Nations, bringing scores of representatives from some 35 countries from around the world into that hard-pressed mining center. Sure, it will provide some immediate short-term economic stimulus and kudos. But what happens if any of those countries were to come up with another world-class nickel deposit — or ten of them — such as we have at Sudbury today? Where would they sell that metal which is already in heavy worldwide oversupply? They couldn’t use it themselves in 50 years so would have to turn to the export market — our market — and dump it at any price. Then we would hear the cries of anguish from Sudbury and its unions.

Albeit charity and benevolence are very noble. But they can be carried only so far. With this country in a financial mess, we just can’t see how Canada (or the U.S.A) can take on the problems of the world.

If Ottawa has money to bandy about to the United Nations or any other such well-meaning organization, we would rather see it earmarked for birth control, not to find ore deposits which would be bound to result in direct competition to our own mines already struggling for their very survival.