Canada Mining

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/

Canada was, quite literally, built with foreign investment. From the mid–19th century, British investors supplied much of the capital necessary to finance the railways, buildings, canals and other infrastructure its colony required. Later, American industrialists built lumber and newsprint mills, mines and manufacturing plants. Despite constant internal bickering about the consequences of allowing it, Canada came to be regarded internationally as a nation quite open to receiving foreign capital.

In the past five years, however, several high-profile takeovers proposed by foreigners were spurned. Most recently, Ottawa surprised many by blocking a bid by Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) to acquire Progress Energy Resources for $5.9 billion. More important, this prompted speculation that China National Offshore Oil Corp.’s outstanding $15.1-billion offer for Nexen might receive similar treatment.

Most bizarrely, provincial officials in Quebec intervened this summer to oppose an attempt by Lowe’s, the American home-improvement retailer, to purchase Rona, that province’s celebrated vendor of hammers, reciprocating saws and drywall. And while Bell Canada is a decidedly domestic company, the recent decision by the CRTC to reject its bid for Astral Media only confirmed in some minds the notion that Ottawa is in a mood to meddle in large deals.

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Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

U.S. regulations will force Canadian commodity extractors to disclose all payments made to governments over $100,000

For Canadian resource companies, the cost of doing business abroad is about to go up. New reporting requirements passed under the U.S. Dodd Frank financial overhaul bill will require resource extraction issuers to disclose all payments made to governments over $100,000, beginning in 2014. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulations will add new expenses for Canadian mining and energy companies listed in the U.S., and may hinder their competitiveness overseas.

Section 1504 of the bill is intended to empower citizens of resource-rich countries to hold their governments accountable for the money they receive, which often lines the pockets of corrupt officials rather than going to the betterment of the population. The regulations also seek to shed light on illegal payments made by companies to gain access to resources in developing nations.

The SEC’s new requirements are part of an international crackdown on corruption, which has been steadily gaining momentum since the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development signed its anti-bribery convention in 1997. As part of its obligations as signatory, Canada passed the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) in 1999. But it is only in the past five years that Canadian authorities have been taking serious steps toward enforcement.

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The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Jim Flaherty’s forecast Tuesday of a weaker global economy, a bigger 2012 deficit than previously anticipated and a delay in the balancing of Ottawa books is likely to trigger the kind of headlines that get folks wringing their hands.

Canada’s 1.4 million unemployed workers will fear an even longer wait for a decent job. A middle class that’s been struggling for three decades to make ends meet will doubt that a revival in household-income growth is close at hand.

Yet the cause for optimism should be driven home hard and relentlessly. Optimism does tend to be a self-fulfilling prophesy, and we have plenty to be realistically hopeful about.

The assessment of Canada released last week by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is quite stunningly positive, though overshadowed by Flaherty’s hints Tuesday that we might not be able balance the budget quite as soon as the 2015-16 deadline set in his March 2012 budget.

The OECD forecasts Canada continuing to outpace its Group of Seven peers in economic growth over the next 50 years.

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http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

“For Canada, it’s a fairly young population, fairly well-educated workforce
and you have all these natural resources that give you higher growth than
other countries,” said Matthias Rumpf, a spokesman with the organization.

The Canadian Press – OTTAWA – The 21st century may not exactly belong to Canada, but according to a major world economic body the country is going to do pretty well. In fact, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development sees Canada among the world’s leading economic lights over the next 50 years.

In issuing its long-term view of how it expects world economies to unfold, the OECD says Canada will continue to lead the Group of Seven industrialized economies in average annual growth over the next half century.

And it will also be near the top on a per-capita basis — possibly a truer measure of success — with only Japan sneaking ahead.

The economic research organization, which represents most of the world’s biggest industrialized economies, predicts Canada’s real gross domestic product will average 2.2 per cent growth in the next half century.

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