Inviting federal New Democratic Party leader Audrey McLaughlin to be guest speaker at a key luncheon during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual convention may turn out to be a shrewd decision. It has already proven to be something of a controversial one. The member for the Yukon will become Prime Minister McLaughlin if the NDP forms the next federal government. With leaders for the other two major political parties running so abysmally low in the popularity polls, an NDP government is not beyond the realm of possibility. If that does come to pass, members of the PDAC will be better off for having heard McLaughlin’s position on key issues affecting the mining industry.
But there has already been some opposition voiced to giving McLaughlin a position of honor. The speaker at the luncheon, jointly sponsored by the PDAC and the Canadian Club of Toronto, has traditionally been a highlight of the convention. Some consider the NDP leader’s presence at the podium akin to the Devil at the pulpit.
The regional vice-president of the PDAC, Bruce Dunlop of Winnipeg, Man., has voiced his objections loud and clear. “On behalf of all the prospectors of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia who suffered great humiliation under previous NDP provincial governments, we take very strong offence to the inclusion of the federal NDP leader at our 59th annual PDAC convention,” says Dunlop in a letter to PDAC President Robert Ginn.
Regardless of whether McLaughlin ever moves into 24 Sussex Drive, the mining industry owes itself the opportunity to hear all points of view when it comes to political issues affecting resource development. The PDAC luncheon should provide a good opportunity to find out just where the NDP leader stands when it comes to mining.
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