EDITORIAL PAGE — The cost of complacency could be your job

When Prairie farmers suffer a devastating drought, the House of Commons immediately erupts. The federal government cannot say enough nor do enough to calm opposition critics. Usually, the net result is a flow of relief funds from Ottawa to stricken farmers.

Similarly, the collapse of the East Coast fishery sparked furious debate among parliamentarians. Opposition critics gained political mileage by hammering at the government’s alleged bungling of the cod stock. The federal government, meanwhile, fell all over itself to demonstrate its concern and solidarity with fishermen.

Why then, for heaven’s sake, when it has been shown that the Canadian mining industry is in decline — base metal reserves are falling year after year, gold production has peaked, environmental regulations are tying it in knots — is there no outrage from either side of the House in Ottawa? Has every politician been cowed by the environmental lobby?

Is there no elected official in Ottawa who feels mining is a key economic pillar of this country? Is there no one on Parliament Hill who can translate into a political context the economic pain felt in the hinterlands where mining is the lifeblood — in places like Faro or Elliot Lake where mines have closed, or in Manitouwadge or Timmins or Houston, B.C. where reserves and time are quickly running out?

Are all politicians as jaded as Ron Fisher, mines critic for the New Democratic Party? He was quoted in The Explorationist, a publication produced by regional prospectors associations in northern Ontario, as saying: “Ore reserves aren’t a problem in Canada. The big companies know where there are lots of big deposits — they just aren’t telling the public.” (Correction: The big companies know where one big deposit is, but it’s locked up in the Tatshenshini Park in northwestern British Columbia.)

But it isn’t merely the case that mining’s concerns are not heard in Ottawa. Even in the provincial capitals, the industry’s voice is heard (judging by results) as barely a whisper.

The past few years have witnessed a deluge of negativity directed at Canadian mining, mainly the result of our having entered into an era in which the public’s hyper-sensitivity to environmental concerns is matched by its vast ignorance about the true impact of mining on habitat. Mining industry associations are only now beginning to claw back.

We mentioned last week that the industry is taking its message to the public. The Mining Association of Canada’s recent “Keep Mining in Canada” initiative is a good beginning, as is the association’s appointment of four “ambassadors” to peddle publicly the industry’s message.

But as the letter-writers from the Save Our North campaign pointed out last week in these pages, ordinary mining folk must become more outspoken. They must take to task their political representatives. They must impress upon those who have designs on a political career that mining in Canada is not an evil to be got rid of, not even a necessary evil only to be endured, but, rather, a good that creates jobs, tax revenue and vital northern communities. When you vote this year, don’t let your political participation end there. Let it be a beginning.