EDITORIAL Why not back a winner?

What is it Canadians have against success?

It seems that once an enterprise in this country shows it’s worthwhile it must either move elsewhere or suffer the slings and arrows of a disgruntled population. At times Canada seems incapable of supporting what has proven itself to be worthwhile.

Canadian artists have long bemoaned this peculiar Canadian peccadillo. We judge our writers, painters, and performers by their acceptance in New York, London and Paris. We should judge them by the extent to which they enrich our own lives.

Gold mining may not carry the same weight of public sympathy as the arts, but treatment of our gold mining business is another example of how this country is unwilling to back a winner.

Here’s an industry that contributes $3 billion a year in export earnings, provides 14 million man-hours of paid work a year, generates close to $300 million in salaries and wages. And the work that this industry generates is spread out across the country. While Ontario and Quebec account for the lion’s share of the value of Canadian gold production — more than 70% between them — Newfoundland, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the northern territories all benefit substantially. Even in Ontario and Quebec, the winners in the gold business are largely in the northern areas where pharmaceutical companies, auto manufacturers and service industries are unlikely to locate.

What’s more, the wealth generated by gold mining — indeed, by mining in general — is new wealth. It’s not money that’s being recirculated the way service industries recycle money without adding any tangible wealth to the nation. Service industries add to our economy and our way of life in many ways, but it’s Canada’s resource industries that generate the wealth to pay for those services.

To its credit, in the past the government has come to the aid of the industry when it was at its worst with the Emergency Gold Mining Assistance Act. And we sympathize with the difficulty of separating handouts from a helping hand. Making those decisions, however, is what politicians are for.

But now, as the gold mining industry enjoys a period of prosperity, there seems little inclination to make the most of it. The anticipated demise of flow-through funding for exploration companies, if the government’s white paper becomes the basis of law, is just one example. The neglect of an industry that could provide more jobs and more wealth can also be through sins of omission.

In Australia, where gold production increased fourfold between 1982 and 1986 and output could soon exceed Canada’s, GoldCorp Australia which is owned by the Western Australia government, has set up an international bank to foster more gold exploration, development and production.

The new bank will issue an Australian gold note — a government note backed one hundred per cent by gold in the form of bullion or Australian Nuggets, Australia’s legal tender gold bullion coin. It will make Australia the only government in the world to issue gold-backed notes.

The bank will also provide international banking investment services in gold and foreign currencies to gold producers, private investors, international banks and government authorities. It will be able to help get gold mining projects off the ground by providing gold loans to potential producers.

The Western Australia government recognizes that such an institution depends on its credibility. “A gold banking corporation owned by a sovereign government in a major gold producing region will have great competitive advant age in international markets,” says Brian Burke, Western Australia’s premier and treasurer.

It’s a novel idea, and it indicates how important gold is to Australia for earning foreign currency. It’s active support for an industry that adds a lot to the country and takes very little in return.

The Canadian government, which has already indicated an ambition to enhance Canada’s international banking profile, would do well to examine the potential for establishing such an institution here.