Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50880
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT By Jeremy Hainsworth Canada' mining industry Gold mine or regulatory minefield? s Canada's mining industry can often find itself at the fulcrum of competing interests. From First Nations land claims, to environmental concerns, to jurisdictional boundary issues, the industry more often resembles a regula- tory minefield than a gold mine. The industry must be on guard to ensure scientific facts and adherence to legislation, rather than emotion and politics, rule the day in decision-mak- ing processes. "Fear and emotion beat science and fact every day of the week," says Brian Abraham, a partner with the Vancouver office of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, explaining the issues that can hamper obtaining capital and approvals for projects. Abraham explains, environmen- tal issues occur more often because of the lack of harmonization between Canadian jurisdictions than the concerns of envi- ronmental groups. Still, the industry doesn't discount the work and concerns of those groups, says Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AMEBC) president and CEO Gavin Dirom. "We're try- ing to connect with [non-governmental organizations] that consider themselves reasonable," he says. "We're looking to government to have accountability for NGOs." What is a challenge, says Dirom, is the lack of streamlining between the federal and provincial regulatory processes. While mining is a provin- cial responsibility under the division of powers, environmental concerns are split. "You don't have to look far for challenges between the federal and pro- vincial systems," Dirom says, noting a project can be approved at a provincial level only to be stalled on the federal level. "It can be unbelievably frustrating having Ottawa delaying on a project because it can't decide on a process. That results in court challenges. Why duplicate the process?" Crae Garrett, a partner at Macleod Dixon LLP in Calgary, says the confu- sion doesn't help the Canadian indus- try. "It's very difficult to get a straight answer to questions regarding envi- ronmental issues," he says. "By con- trast, you could go to other countries where they could [not] care less." He says big mining interests such as metal giant Teck Cominco Ltd. can afford the expenses of the Canadian regula- tory maze. "We as Canadians are not a very easy country to do business with if you're a junior mining guy." That said, Garrett believes Canada is going to see more opportunities in areas such as northeast Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan. But, he cautions, "You've got three different sets of regulatory regimes and three dif- ferent sets of aboriginal treaties." And there, the industry also must deal with the as-yet uncharted territory of rev- enue sharing with First Nations. "You can deal with the scientific matters and INHOUSE JUNE 2009 • 31