In February 2013, the Minister of Finance and Economy and the Minister of Natural Resources announced the launch of forum on mining royalties to be held on March 15 in Montreal. This announcement was made with respect to the undertakings taken by the Parti Québécois during the Québec provincial elections last fall, whereby the Parti Québécois promised to revise the province's mining tax regime. This initiative was thereafter expanded in the 2013-2014 budget, with the Parti Québécois promising to consult the mining industry and any concerned groups on the matter. The forum will be a key milestone of this process.
The forum will be co-chaired by Mr. Jacques Fortin (HEC Montréal) and Mr. Pierre Lasserre (UQAM-CIRANO). All interested parties, including the Québec Mining Association and the Québec Mineral Exploration Association, together with mining companies, are invited to submit comments on the implementation of a new mining tax regime.
Consultation documents are to be posted on the websites of the Ministry of Finances and Economy and the Ministry of Natural Resources by March 1st. These documents will outline, among other matters, information on the mining industry and on the application of the current mining tax regime together with quantitative information on the amounts drawn from the mining companies operating in the province of Québec.
Less than one month prior to the forum, any parties interested in participating in the process will be urged to organize their arguments and positions in accordance with the forum's agenda. At the time of this writing, no consultation documents have been posted. Indeed, the only certainty is that the government intends to publicly announce the new terms of the mining tax regime as soon as practically possible following the forum, likely sometime in the Spring of 2013.
The government's release and publication of the consultation documents shall be the subject of a future post on the Plan Nord blog.
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