Publish What You Pay
The international PWYP campaign aims to help citizens of resource-rich developing countries hold their governments accountable for the management of revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries. Despite billions of dollars of incoming revenues, citizens of more than 50 resource rich countries around the world remain steeped in poverty. If governments managed these revenues transparently and effectively, they could serve as a basis for successful economic growth and poverty reduction. However, this has proved to be the exception rather than the rule. The PWYP campaign was launched in 2002 by George Soros, Chairman of the Open Society Institute and a number of UK-based NGOs. The PWYP coalition comprises over 350 civil society organizations worldwide.
In 2003, following the creation of the civil society PWYP campaign, a number of governments launched an international initiative called the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI). This initiative sets a global standard for companies to publish what they pay and for governments to disclose what they receive through the verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining. In March 2007, the Canadian government announced their support to the EITI.
What PAC is doing
There are more than 1,000 mining companies listed on Canadian stock exchanges, more than any other country in the world. Canadian mining companies have interests in more than 8,000 exploration and mining properties in over 100 countries, which constitutes about around 40% of all mineral exploration undertaken in the world. Canada's minerals and metals industry accounts for approximately $50 billion, or about 12%, of all Canadian direct investment abroad.
In response to a 2005 parliamentary report, the government of Canada held four National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Canadian Extractive Sector in Developing Countries. These took place in 2006 in four Canadian cities and attracted wide participation from civil society and the private sector. The consensus report published by the National Roundtables Advisory Group in 2007 summarized the input received and provided many recommendations to the Government of Canada.
Read the Advisory Group report, March 2007
Read the letter from PAC asking the Canadian government to respond fully to the report
PAC is a member of the international PWYP coalition and in 2008 PAC helped establish the Canadian PWYP network, which it hosts.
Visit the Canadian PWYP Web site at: http://www.pwyp.ca
Other useful sites
PWYP International: http://www.publishwhatyoupay.org
EITI: http://www.eitransparency.org
Revenue Watch Institute: http://www.revenuewatch.org
Transparency International – Canada: http://www.transparency.ca
Transparency International: http://www.transparency.org
Halifax Initiative: http://www.halifaxinitiative.org
Mining Watch Canada: http://www.miningwatch.ca
Development and Peace: http://www.devp.org
Bank Information Center : http://www.bicusa.org
