Speech (committee meeting)

{
    "time": "2012-04-04 16:25:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Nolan Watson",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"2803805\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Thank you very much.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803806\" data-originallang=\"en\">Just to clarify what Sandstorm actually does, it is a business, so it is exactly what you say, but we will go in and will provide capital for someone to build their asset; then we allow them to continue to operate it. So although we don't actually do the activities on the ground, we monitor them in advance and monitor their progress. We monitor their compliance with various things. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803807\" data-originallang=\"en\">We try to focus wherever we can on organizations that we believe are going to be able to operate that mine successfully for decades to come. To that extent, we need to ensure that we are only dealing with people who are doing a good job environmentally, doing a good job socially, doing a good job in getting the support of the community. We spend a lot of time doing that. That's our job.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803808\" data-originallang=\"en\">If we make an investment in a company that is not doing those things, we risk losing the money of our Canadian investors. That's what we focus on. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803809\" data-originallang=\"en\">I have been to many countries. I was in Peru last week meeting with government officials and in remote, very poor communities. There are people there who have no hope of an education and no hope of medical facilities, if certain projects don't go forward in their communities. I am a firm believer, though, that this business needs to be done responsibly and needs to be done in a way that reflects well on Canada as a whole. That's something that I think is very important.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803810\" data-originallang=\"en\">Just to address a previous comment that was made about our reputation being affected by our companies, if we have any misconceptions that our Canadian government's reputation is not currently affected already by what companies are doing, whether or not we support them, we're kidding ourselves. The business that Canadians are doing and the way they portray themselves reflects on us, full stop. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803811\" data-originallang=\"en\">To the extent that we can be involved and have public-private partnerships and do types of things that can provide a mechanism for oversight, so that we can actually monitor the impact of what they're doing upon our reputation, that's very important. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803812\" data-originallang=\"en\">Canada has a lot to offer. Canadian mining companies have a lot to offer. Our Canadian government has a huge amount to offer. I believe that if we work together to find the right mechanisms.... We're in the infancy in this type of model, and there are more oversight things that need to be put in place and improvements that need to be made. But I think we're headed down the right path, anyway.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"2803805\" data-originallang=\"en\">Merci beaucoup.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803806\" data-originallang=\"en\">Pr\u00e9cisons d'abord ce que fait Sandstorm. Il s'agit d'une entreprise, comme vous le dites \u00e0 juste titre, mais nous fournissons les capitaux n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 la mise sur pied des actifs d'une autre entreprise; nous la laissons ensuite exploiter les installations. Bien que nous ne menons pas les activit\u00e9s sur le terrain, nous les surveillons d'avance et nous surveillons leur \u00e9volution. Nous surveillons la conformit\u00e9 des op\u00e9rations sur divers plans.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803807\" data-originallang=\"en\">Nous essayons de cibler autant que possible les organisations qui, selon nous, seront capables d'exploiter la mine avec succ\u00e8s pendant des d\u00e9cennies. Dans ce sens, il faut nous assurer de faire affaire seulement avec des gens qui font un bon travail sur les plans environnemental et social et qui obtiennent l'appui de la communaut\u00e9. Nous consacrons beaucoup de temps \u00e0 cela. C'est notre travail.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803808\" data-originallang=\"en\">Si nous investissons dans une entreprise qui ne r\u00e9pond pas \u00e0 ces crit\u00e8res, nous risquons de perdre l'argent de nos investisseurs canadiens. C'est donc ce que nous visons. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803809\" data-originallang=\"en\">Je suis all\u00e9 dans de nombreux pays. La semaine derni\u00e8re, j'\u00e9tais au P\u00e9rou, o\u00f9 j'ai rencontr\u00e9 des repr\u00e9sentants du gouvernement et des gens dans des communaut\u00e9s \u00e9loign\u00e9es et tr\u00e8s pauvres. On trouve l\u00e0 des personnes qui n'ont aucun espoir de recevoir une \u00e9ducation, aucun espoir d'obtenir des installations m\u00e9dicales \u00e0 moins que certains projets ne soient men\u00e9s dans leurs collectivit\u00e9s. Je crois fermement, toutefois, que cette activit\u00e9 doit \u00eatre men\u00e9e de fa\u00e7on responsable et d'une mani\u00e8re qui rejaillira positivement sur le Canada dans son ensemble. C'est l\u00e0 une chose qui me semble tr\u00e8s importante. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803810\" data-originallang=\"en\">On a dit tout \u00e0 l'heure que notre r\u00e9putation est affect\u00e9e par nos entreprises. Si nous croyons que la r\u00e9putation du gouvernement du Canada n'est pas d\u00e9j\u00e0 ternie par ce que font les entreprises, que nous les appuyons ou non, nous nous leurrons. Ce que font les Canadiens et l'image qu'ils projettent se r\u00e9percutent sur nous, point final.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803811\" data-originallang=\"en\">C'est tr\u00e8s important de pouvoir surveiller l'impact de leurs activit\u00e9s sur notre r\u00e9putation, dans la mesure o\u00f9 nous pouvons nous impliquer, avoir des partenariats public-priv\u00e9 et instaurer un m\u00e9canisme de surveillance.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"2803812\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le Canada a beaucoup \u00e0 offrir, de m\u00eame que les entreprises mini\u00e8res canadiennes. Le gouvernement du Canada a \u00e9norm\u00e9ment \u00e0 offrir. Je crois que si nous travaillons ensemble pour trouver les bons m\u00e9canismes... Nous en sommes aux premiers balbutiements de ce mod\u00e8le, et il faut mettre en place plus de mesures de surveillance et apporter des am\u00e9liorations. Mais, quoi qu'il en soit, je crois que nous sommes sur la bonne voie.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/committees/foreign-affairs/41-1/31/nolan-watson-12/",
    "politician_url": null,
    "politician_membership_url": null,
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "7321080",
    "document_url": "/committees/foreign-affairs/41-1/31/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fcommittees%2Fforeign-affairs%2F41-1%2F31%2F"
    }
}