CROSS-CUTS Mining: It’s Like Shovelling Snow

It’s almost embarrassing — and somewhat insulting — how some influential Canadian institutions view the mining industry. The worst gaffe we’ve heard in some time comes from Maclean’s, a magazine that bills itself as “Canada’s weekly newsmagazine.” In a lead article focussing on Canada’s high-tech industry, the magazine quotes an unnamed “senior federal government official” as saying: “Extracting minerals from the ground ‘doesn’t take a lot of brains and scientific talent . . . It’s like shovelling snow and being able to sell it.'”