The following is an excerpt from an article that was published by MiningWatch Canada, an Ottawa-based initiative that is supported by environmental, social justice, Aboriginal and labour organizations from across Canada.
News that the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been spying on Brazil’s Mines Ministry starts to expose the extent to which the Canadian government is willing to go in the corporate interest.
The scandal in Brazil is consistent with what Canadian authorities have been doing at home and through diplomatic corps around the world, but goes a step further.
It demonstrates that beyond political and commercial support, the Canadian government is willing to even jeopardize important trade relationships to give Canadian industry an upper hand.
Glenn Greenwald’s ongoing reporting for Britain’s Guardian newspaper and leaked information from former United States National Security Administration (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden -- currently exiled in Russia – has revealed that CSEC’s syping goes way beyond tracking terrorism and well into industrial esponiage.
Another Guardian report shows that the agency was consulting regularly with Canadian mining and energy companies.
The Canadian Embassy estimates that some 50 Canadian mining firms are invested in Brazil, including companies such as
Teck Resources Ltd. (
TSX: T.TCK.A,
Stock Forum) (
TCK: T.TCK.B,
Stock Forum),,
Kinross Gold Corp. (
TSX: T.K,
Stock Forum) (
NYSE: KGC,
Stock Forum),
Iamgold Ltd. (
TSX: T.IMG,
Stock Forum),
Yamana Gold Inc. (
TSX: T.YRI,
Stock Forum) (
NYSE: AUY,
Stock Forum),
Eldorado Gold Corp. (
TSX: T.ELD,
Stock Forum),
Belo Sun Mining Corp. (
TSX: T.BSX,
Stock Forum) and others.
Total Canadian foreign direct investment in Brazil is $9.8 billion, dwarfed by Brazilian investment in Canada of $15.8 billion, much of that also in the mining sector since Vale bought out Inco.
In fact the depth of the government’s commitment to the Canadian mining sector globally makes a strange contrast with its willingness to sell off Canadian mineral assets and even flagship companies like Inco, Falconbridge, and Alcan, without even putting any real conditions on the sales.
Readers please note:
A CBC News report is speculating that any alleged spying may be tied to Brazilian energy giant Petrobas’s decision to auction off rights to the Libra Oil Field, a discovery that is thought to contain between 8 and 10 billion barrels of oil.
The CBC report said analysts where left scratching their heads when not one energy company based in the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand or Australia elected to participate in an auction for what is billed as the largest oil find in 40 years.
The report speculates that Canadian energy sector stakeholders may wonder how international companies got the information on which to base their decisions.