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Documents detail Mulroney-era efforts to block U.S. asbestos ban – by Gloria Galloway (Globe and Mail – October 19, 2011)

The 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.

Anti-asbestos lobbyists say former Canadian politicians, ambassadors and bureaucrats abandoned their morals when they successfully lobbied two decades ago to prevent the carcinogenic material from being banned in the United States.

Laurie Kazan-Allen of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, a group based in Britain, told a news conference Tuesday that, “as a consequence of the legal and political actions mounted by Canadian interest, a further 300,000 tons of Canadian asbestos was used in the United States and vast amounts of asbestos-containing products were incorporated into the United States infrastructure.”

Ms. Kazan-Allen obtained documents from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to show that former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney lobbied his friend, then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan, in the mid-1980s about the EPA’s plan to ban asbestos.

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Timmins State of the City Address – by Mayor Tom Laughren (October 17, 2011)

Timmins is the second largest hard-rock mining community in Canada. – Stan Sudol

Given to the Timmins Chamber of Commerce, October 17, 2011

Thank you for the kind introduction. Good Afternoon. It is a pleasure to join you for the Timmins Chamber of Commerce’s Annual State of the City Address and kick off to the Annual Small Business Week …. Power up your Business: Invest, Innovate, Grow … a theme that applies equally to municipal government.

A big thank you to the sponsors of this event: Ontario Power Generation and Goldcorp Porcupine Gold Mines, two significant contributors to our City.

I’m happy to see so many people attend the annual State of the City event. It’s very gratifying to so many people take an active interest in the state of our city, our community. All of us chose this city as the place to build our dreams, and raise our families. We believe in it passionately and when we tell people we’re from Timmins, there’s a great pride in our voices for this city… a city with a rich history, an impressive legacy of civic engagement and of defying expectations. My goal is to see our city grow stronger so future generations can look back on our decisions and know we put civic responsibility first.

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OMA President is keynote speaker at mining/Aboriginal summit in Timmins

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province

Ontario Mining Association President Chris Hodgson will be the keynote speaker at the Mining Ready Summit: Preparing Aboriginal Communities for Mining-Related Business Opportunities in Timmins. This event is being hosted by Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund on October 25 and 26, 2011 at the Days Inn Conference Centre. 

The summit is expected to attract more than 150 key mineral sector people, contractors, mine supply and service company representatives, Aboriginal business owners and First Nations community leaders. The goal of the gathering is to help prepare Aboriginal communities for mining related business opportunities. It is hoped participants will bring new knowledge, lessons learned and best practices to the summit and communicate effectively with participants.

Mr. Hodgson is the keynote speaker at the dinner on October 25. He will share the OMA’s vision for the future of mining in Ontario. Global economic forces such as urbanization and the continued developmental paths of nations such as China and India are providing this province with a window of opportunity to meet a lengthy anticipated period of high demand for commodities Ontario can produce. 

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Creating Jobs & Prosperity: Canada as a Resource Superpower – Speech by The Honourable Joe Oliver, P.C., M.P. Minister of Natural Resources (October 13, 2011)

This speech was given by The Honourable Joe Oliver, P.C., M.P. Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources  at the Toronto Board of Trade, Toronto, Ontario, October 13, 2011

Check against delivery

Thank you, Carol, for your kind introduction. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

I am pleased to be back at the Toronto Board of Trade, which has been such an important organization in representing and generating ideas for the business community in the GTA and beyond.  Toronto is an economic engine with a world-class capital market and banking industry that finances our abundant natural resources and related industries right across the country.  The relationship between our resources and the economy is – not surprisingly – what I want to talk to about this morning.

This summer and fall, I have traveled across Canada and the United States. I co-chaired the federal-provincial Conference on Energy and Mining in Kananaskis. I attended the APEC Conference of Energy and Transportation Ministers in San Francisco a few weeks ago and met with business leaders, legislators and government officials in Sacramento, LA, New York and Washington.  Last week, I visited Washington and Calgary again.

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Ontario Mining Association sets the date for the first post-election Meet the Miners event for November 30

This article was provided by the Ontario Mining Association (OMA), an organization that was established in 1920 to represent the mining industry of the province

Following close on the heels of the recent provincial election, which resulted in a minority government, the Ontario Mining Association will be holding its Meet the Miners event on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto. This is the second Meet the Miners hosted by the OMA in 2011 with the earlier celebration of mining being held on Monday, March 28, before the event was shifted to a regular fall time slot. 

“While we are still awaiting news on legislative business such as the appointment of a new speaker and a new cabinet by the government, including the Minister of Northern Development and Mines, we feel it is important to move forward with this opportunity to communicate the importance of the mineral sector to Ontarians,” said OMA President Chris Hodgson. “During the recent election campaign, the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives and NDP all included important and constructive positions on mining in their platforms.” 

Details still need to be finalized but the day will include an OMA board meeting in the morning, a luncheon with a keynote speaker, who ideally would be the newly appointed mines minister, recognition of the industry and the OMA and its members in the Legislature, team meetings with cabinet ministers and opposition leaders and a reception from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Sutton Place Hotel. Invitations for various components of the day will be distributed electronically in the near future.

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Commenting period [on Ring of Fire] now open – by Harald Carmichael (Sudbury Star – October 18, 2011)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. hcarmichael@thesudburystar.com

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has just launched the first of three public consultation periods for a federal environmental assessment of Cliffs Natural Resources’ Black Thor chromite deposit in the Ring of Fire area of northwestern Ontario.

The agency’s draft Environm e nt a l Impact Statement Guidelines has been prepared and identifies potential environmental effects to be addressed and information that needs to be included in Cliffs’ Environmental Impact Statement. It can be viewed on the agency’s website at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca (Registry reference number 11-03- 63927). The document is also available in print by request.

The deadline to submit a comment with this first round of public input is Nov. 16. The agency is also making $40,000 available under its Participant Funding Program to assist groups and individuals to participate in the environmental assessment. Funding applications received by Nov. 16 will be considered.

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Who Will be the Northern Minister(s)? – by Livio Di Matteo (October 16, 2011)

Livio Di Matteo is Professor of Economics at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Visit his new Economics Blog “Northern Economist” at http://ldimatte.shawwebspace.ca/

On Thursday October 20th, Premier McGuinty will unveil his new cabinet and until then there will be much speculation as to which of his Northern MPPS will get in.  As we all know, prior to the election, Rick Bartolucci was Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing while Michael Gravelle was Minister of Northern Development and Mines and Forestry. 

Having two cabinet ministers from the North did not do much for Liberal fortunes in the North and their seven seats have shrunk to four.  Of the four current MPPS, who will make it into cabinet?

One possibility is that given the minority government situation and the beating taken from Northern voters, the Premier will take the safe route and opt for the status quo and retain Gravelle and Bartolucci in their current posts.  However, this is a new government and the Premier may opt for fresh faces.

The Premier has a choice of Bill Mauro (Thunder Bay-Atikokan), Michael Gravelle (Thunder Bay-Superior North), Rick Bartolucci (Sudbury) and David Orazietti (Sault Ste. Marie). 

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Japan’s government, people split on nuclear power – by Mark Mackinnon (Globe and Mail – October 14, 2011)

The 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.

TOKYO— As the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant continues to reverberate, two diverging plotlines are developing in Japan: Ordinary citizens are becoming increasingly anxious about nuclear power, even taking to the streets in rare protest, Meanwhile, their government is moving back into its old and comfortable embrace with the nuclear industry.

Former prime minister Naoto Kan, who was in office on March 11 when a tsunami triggered a series of terrifying explosions and meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi, declared in the aftermath that the country should become nuclear-free. It’s a position that polls suggested had 70 per cent support.

But Mr. Kan was blamed by the public and the media for dithering at the height of the crisis, and was forced to resign in August. His successor, Yoshihiko Noda, quickly declared that he wants to see the country’s nuclear reactors restarted by next summer.

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Canada goes on offensive in pipeline PR war – by Nathan Vanderklippe (Globe and Mail – October 11, 2011)

The 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.

CALGARY— Away from the loud protests and clever signs that opponents have wielded against the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada’s government and industry are quietly fighting back.

Over the span of the past two years, they have spent millions on lobbyists and flown executives across the border in an increasingly urgent bid to press their case with U.S. politicians and officials. Their efforts have largely been carried out in private. Yet public records make clear the scale of their exertions, and the importance Canada’s energy companies, with support from the governments of Canada and Alberta, have placed on pushing the project through.

In the past two years, TransCanada Corp. (TRP-T43.050.882.09%), which is seeking to build the $7-billion pipeline, has spent over $1.5-million on U.S. federal lobbyists, and even more in individual states like Nebraska, where opposition has been the most vocal. That’s in addition to the money it has poured into advertising campaigns, which include a current print, TV and online effort in Washington, D.C., aimed at persuading decision makers that the pipeline will help “real Americans.”

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Resources are Canada’s trump card in U.S. trade talks – by Derek H. Burney (October 14, 2011)

Derek H. Burney, Senior Strategic Advisor, Norton Rose OR LLP was Ambassador of Canada to the United States from 1989 to 1993. 

A few months after the United States and Canada announced the launch of Free Trade negotiations in 1986, the U.S. Administration imposed, without warning, a 35% duty on cedar shakes and shingles imported from Canada.  The U.S. lumber lobby simultaneously filed a countervailing duty petition seeking a billion dollars in penalties on annual sales of $4 billion of softwood lumber, perpetuating what has since become the longest running trade dispute between the two North American “partners”.  At the time, Prime Minister Mulroney decried the U.S. actions saying bluntly that “actions like this make it extremely difficult for anyone, including Canadians, to be friends with Americans.”

Recent actions by the U.S. against Canada evoke a similar sentiment: the reinstatement of “Buy America” in the President’s Job legislation and calls by the U.S. Maritime Commissioner for a special tax on cargo shipments from Canada to offset the geographic proximity to Asia of some Canadian ports.  On top of these protectionist propositions, there is also the uproar over a Canadian pipeline intended to bring oil to Texas refineries. 

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NEWS RELEASE: Macleod Dixon merges with Norton Rose OR, creating a global energy and mining powerhouse, within Norton Rose Group

www.nortonrose.com

West meets East

Calgary, October 4, 2011 – Macleod Dixon and Norton Rose OR announced today they will be joining forces as of January 1, 2012. The enlarged practice will become Norton Rose Canada, creating a world–leading practice in energy and mining law. With close to 700 lawyers based in Calgary, Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Québec, Caracas and Bogotá, Norton Rose Canada will be ranked among the top 3 Canadian legal practices.

This merger will significantly increase Norton Rose Canada’s resources across its six key industry sectors in Canada and in particular in the energy and infrastructure and mining and commodities sectors. Norton Rose Canada will be among a small number of Canadian firms with a leading practice in each of the three main markets in Canada (Calgary, Toronto and Montréal).

John Coleman, Managing Partner of Norton Rose OR said:

“This is about creating a new Canadian powerhouse that can serve clients through its international platform.

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NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Chromite Project: Public Comments Invited and Federal Funding Available

OTTAWA – October 17, 2011 – The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) is starting a comprehensive study type of environmental assessment for the proposed Cliffs Chromite Project located in northern Ontario. The Agency invites the public to comment on the project and the conduct of the comprehensive study.

The Agency has prepared the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Guidelines that identify potential environmental effects to be addressed and information that needs to be included in the proponent’s EIS. Public comments on the draft EIS Guidelines are invited and will be reviewed and considered before the document is finalized and issued to the proponent.

The draft EIS Guidelines and more information on this project are available on the Agency’s website at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca (Registry reference number 11-03-63927). The document is available in paper copy by request as well.

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Quadra FNX Mining and Xstrata team up – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – October 15, 2011)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. announced Friday it has an agreement to use a mine shaft owned by Xstrata Nickel, saving Quadra millions and helping to increase production at its Levack Mine.

The company said the 1,500- metre shaft at the nearby Craig Mine, owned by Xstrata Nickel, will significantly improve flexibility and provide more access to the ore.

“The access arrangement with Xstrata Nickel provides mutual benefits to both parties going forward,” Quadra FNX president and CEO Paul Blythe said in a release. “We will be advancing the implementation plan in order to shift operations from the Levack number two shaft to the Craig shaft immediately. This will be a significant step forward in the optimization of our (nearby) high-grade Morrison deposit.”

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RIM goes as silent as its BlackBerrys – by Warren Kinsella (Toronto Sun – October 16, 2011)

The Toronto Sun is the city’s daily tabloid newspaper. warren.kinsella@sunmedia.ca

A lesson for the mining sector? – Stan Sudol

When disaster strikes, when mistakes happen, what’s the best corporate response? Well, to respond, for starters. Not to pretend nobody’s noticed.

Last week, as you are certainly aware, was The Great Berry Crash of 2011, and plenty of folks noticed. Across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, millions of us peered at our inert BlackBerry screens for day after interminable day, cursing. 

Cursing one of the all-time Canadian business success stories, BlackBerry’s Research in Motion (RIM).  Cursing the company’s near-total silence about a system-wide collapse that inconvenienced — or hurt — countless businesses and individuals around the globe.

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Firm [Cliffs Natural Resources] defends environmental review process – by Bryan Meadows (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal – October 15, 2011)

The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal is the daily newspaper of Northwestern Ontario.

While First Nation leaders and environmentalists continue to have concerns about the approved environmental assessment process for Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.’s Chromite Project, the company maintains that the EA will mean a thorough review of all components of the project.

Some Matawa First Nations chiefs are upset about the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency’s (CEAA) decision to side with industry by choosing a Comprehensive Study Environmental Assessment (EA) process, instead of a Joint Review Panel EA.

“I don’t understand how the CEAA can make this kind of choice,” Chief Sonny Gagnon of the Aroland First Nation, said in a news release.

“The area being affected is among one of the largest groups of intact wetlands in the world. These Ring of Fire developments are going to impact everyone in the region, one way or another, but especially the First Nations near these developments.

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