The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Mining companies across Canada paid $8.4 billion to federal, provincial and territorial governments in 2010, a massive jump from the previous year, a new report shows. The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) last week released its annual report on such payments. It showed that last year's payments marked a 39 per cent raise Ð or $3.3 billion Ð over the $5.1 billion doled out in 2009. The report, prepared by Entrans Policy Research Group, details the direct revenues that accrue to government from the industry in the form of corporate taxes, royalties and employee income taxes. "The mining industry makes a significant contribution to Canada's economy each year," said MAC President and CEO Pierre Gratton, "ranging from capital investment, stock market activity, Aboriginal community jobs and training, and northern development. The level of payments made to governments detailed in this study is another useful measure of this contribution, particularly valuable because these revenues are used to support health care, education and other critical government services." The report states that aside from the $8.4 billion, another $1.8 billion was paid by companies in the downstream fabricated metal products sector. And there were additional government revenues from mining supplier companies across the country, ranging from engineering and equipment firms to railroad and marine owners and operators. The report also touches on the royalties and similar payments accruing to each province and territory, and the relevance of regional revenue flows, particularly to Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta, B.C., and the Northwest Territories. "The mining industry is critically important to Canada's positioning in the global economy as the country's future success is inherently linked to the continued growth of a competitive and responsible resource industry," said MAC Vice President of Economic Affairs Paul Stothart. Over the next five years, MAC has estimated that well over $116 billion could be invested in existing and new projects, creating thousands of high-paying jobs in every region of the country and further bolstering government revenues from the sector. Based in Ottawa, MAC is the national organization for the country's mining industry. Its members are engaged in mineral exploration, mining, smelting, refining and semi-fabrication. Ð Compiled from a Mining Association of Canada news release.
