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THE SUDBURY STAR, 8 Dec. 2009 - As a strike at Brazil-based Vale Inco dragged into its fifth month in Sudbury, and Swissbased Xstrata cut another 670 jobs in Northern Ontario, Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle introduced legislation Monday aimed to make deals forged between the federal government and foreign companies open to public scrutiny.
If the private member’s bills pass, Gravelle said “in the future, any agreements that are signed between a foreign company taking over a Canadian company, all of the details of the acquisition would have to be made public if a Canadian requests it.”
The first of the bills, an Act to Amend Investment Canada Act (C-488,) is targeted to create transparency in future deals. Bill C-489 looks to dig up the details about the purchase of Inco by Vale, while C-490 applies to the sale of Falconbridge to Xstrata.
Today, striking Sudbury Steelworkers, dressed in mining gear, will join Gravelle and fellow NDPer Glenn Thibeault — the MP for Sudbury — at a press conference in support of the bills.
More than 4,000 United Steelworkers in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey’s Bay, N. L., have been on strike against Vale Inco since the summer.
On Monday, Xstrata Copper announced it was going to close its Timmins smelter next spring, throwing 670 people out of work.
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