Letters to the Editor (April 30, 2007)

Flow-through credit wanted

It was interesting for me to read about the various people to whom you gave credit for the creation of flow-through shares, in the “Flow Through Financing” article in the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada 75th Anniversary Magazine, including John Hansuld, David Comba, and others. But let me, with as much humility as I can muster, make one minor, very, very important correction.

Flow-through shares did not take on any importance for the junior resource exploration industry until I, then operating as a partner of Beutel Goodman and Co., lobbied the then Liberal finance minister, Marc Lalonde — from which relationship I even today have a good friendship.

CMP was a subsidiary of Beutel, Goodman and Co. I was able to convince Mr. Lalonde that flow-through shares, when done through a mutual funds type of instrument that provided diversification, would reduce the very high risk involved in exploration. He then changed the Tax Act to include flow-through shares through a fund vehicle.

That approval took place in 1983 — that date is correct. CMP, which even to this day remains the largest provider of flow-through monies to the resource industry in Canada, was the first to offer that package to Canadian investors.

From the introduction of CMP, there has developed a host of competitors providing similar exploration dollars to the industry, most also using a three-letter name.

The mining industry was saved and a new financial industry called flow-through investing was created. Not to have mentioned the above information in your article does not speak well for the journalistic research of the The Northern Miner staff.

Ned Goodman,

Chairman, CMP

Toronto, Ont.

Franklin, not Theodore

Until I read your issue of April 16-22/07, I had felt that Canadians knew more U.S. history and geography than many, or most, Americans.

However, in your Op-Ed commentary, “The Gold Survey: whence it came, where it went,” I note that president Theodore Roosevelt not only spoke softly and carried a big stick, but he also had a very long life. Ouch! Now, repeat after me: states, not provinces; presidents, not prime ministers; Franklin, not Theodore Roosevelt.

[Editor’s note: the error was ours, not Timothy Green’s]

Severn P. Brown,

Canton, New York

Kudos, finally

I have read through your March 5-11/07 edition and wanted to let you know how impressed I was.

The sheer scope of the paper with its many sections reminded me of putting out what we called the Annual Number for the many years I owned the Miner. I am able to appreciate the long hours put in by all members of your staff, from editorial to advertising and production. And with the current edition being global in its reach, the effort would have been all that much greater than in our years.

Congratulations on a fine edition.

Richard C. Pearce,

Toronto, Ont.