As time passed, the Conservatives' CSR strategy increasingly rested on diverting government funds to promoting mining interests. In 2012, reported the Ottawa Citizen, Foreign Affairs spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring journalists from Latin America and Mongolia to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference and to tour mines in Quebec. The Harper government created the Investment Cooperation (INC), a $20 million program "designed to support responsible business investment in developing countries and thus reduce poverty and promote economic growth." INC was mainly supposed to help companies investigate the likely social consequences of an investment. According to the government, "program applicants and clients must demonstrate adherence to strict international corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards in order to receive funding."

The standards clearly weren't "strict" as INC contributed $270,000 in September 2010 to the controversial operations of Centerra Gold in Mongolia. Centerra was criticized for its mining operations across the border in Kyrgyzstan where a worker was crushed to death and a number of large chemical spills caused 2,500 illnesses and a handful of deaths. In March 2012 a number of Mongolian and international organizations (Mining Watch, the United Mongolian Movement of Rivers and Lakes, Rights and Accountability in Development etc.) complained to Canada's National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines about Centerra's failure to respect Mongolian laws. (At one point that government suspended the company's license.)

Between 2006 and early 2012 CIDA approved at least $50-million in projects linked to the mining industry, according to a Globe and Mail investigation of the organization's project database. International development minister Bev Oda aggressively defended CIDA's support for mining companies in interviews and at the 2012 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto, which was attended by five Conservative ministers. Oda told the mining bigwigs they were "making significant investments in development projects and improving the quality of life for thousands in countries where you work. ... The mining industry is a huge contributor to a nation's wealth and is one of the main building blocks of civilization." She ended her speech by saying: "I look forward to learning from your industry on how to improve the effectiveness of Canada's development work internationally, and to working more closely together to create a better life for those living in poverty."

CIDA as extraction enabler

Through Canada's Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector the government put up $27 million in 2011 for projects in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ghana and Burkina Faso. CIDA said its partnership with mining companies was designed to "improv[e] the competitive advantage of Canadian international extractive sector companies by enhancing their ability to manage social and environmental risks." One example of the aid agency's efforts was a $4.5-million grant to Lundin for Africa, the philanthropic arm of mining giant Lundin Group of Companies. Another example was the $20 million Andean Regional Initiative in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia intended to "promote corporate social responsibility through partnership arrangements between extractive sector companies and other stakeholders aimed at socioeconomic development and support to governance."

As part of their Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector the government also strengthened the bonds between mining companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In June 2011 CIDA announced $6.7 million in funding for collaborative efforts between three leading mining companies and NGOs. The biggest of the projects was between Plan Canada and IAMGOLD. "In Burkina Faso," according to the government release, "CIDA is supporting Plan Canada, and its partner IAMGOLD, in implementing a job skills training project in 13 communities to meet labour market demands in a variety of sectors, including the mining sector and its sub-sectors." The government put $5.7 million into the project while IAMGOLD invested $1 million and Plan Canada spent $900,000.

The goal of the CIDA-funded project, the head of training programs at Burkina Faso's education ministry told the Globe and Mail in March 2012, was to "respond to the needs of the mining company." Adama Traore added that "a number of graduates are expected to go directly into jobs at the mining company."

The Plan Canada-IAMGOLD training took place in a charged political context. In a perceived attempt to scare its workers, in May 2011 IAMGOLD closed its Essakane mine in Burkina Faso. The company's CEO, Steve Letwin, warned the miners: "I have zero tolerance for strikes that are illegal. And, as they (the workers) will find out, will not tolerate anything that has a negative impact on our stakeholders." In March 2012 Bloomberg reported that 100 people protesting a lack of local employment at the Essakane mine were scattered by the police.

These protests help explain why the company sees the CIDA-funded job training as helpful. The same day Bloomberg reported protests at the mine site Letwin was quoted in the Globe and Mail saying that youth unemployment in the community was a major obstacle for the company as "over the course of time, they're (youth) going to want more of a take", which could mean "increased taxes and royalties" for IAMGOLD.

CIDA's 'ethical stamp of approval' against critics

The two other NGO-mining company projects announced by CIDA in mid-2011 were substantially smaller. The aid agency allocated $500,000 to a project between World University Service of Canada and Rio Tinto ALCAN "to provide direct skills training to 400 young people to help diversify the local economy within mining communities." Together the company and NGO put up another $428,000 for the project. CIDA also invested $500,000 in a World Vision Canada/Barrick Gold project.

"In Peru," noted the aid agency, "CIDA is supporting World Vision Canada, in a program that will increase the income and standard of living of 1,000 families affected by mining operations." World Vision and Barrick combined to match CIDA's donation. In response Miguel Palacin, the head of a Peruvian indigenous organization, sent a letter to World Vision, Barrick and CIDA claiming that "no 'social works' carried out with the mining companies can compensate for the damage done, particularly in the face of rights having been violated."

Writing in Embassy magazine, Rick Arnold, former coordinator for Common Frontiers-Canada, summarized Palacin's criticism: "For this World Vision-led 'development' project to go ahead in the district of Quiruvilca in the face of concerted opposition locally and nationally would be tantamount to running a pacification program, and not a development project, in advance of the eventual destruction of a people's way of life -- all for gold."

CIDA-funded NGO-mining contracts are problematic for a number of reasons. First, taxpayers should not subsidize the social responsibilities of highly profitable mining companies. In addition to this obvious point, such CIDA contracts further weaken NGOs critical of Canadian operations while strengthening those groups willing to defend and work with mining companies. After a debate erupted over CIDA's funding of NGO-mining projects, the three above mentioned NGOs defended their ties to industry in the Globe and Mail. Signed by the heads of World University Service of Canada, Plan Canada and World Vision Canada the opening sentence of the January 2012 op-ed read: "Canadian (mining) companies are major drivers of economic growth in the global South." It went on to note, "These companies are already significant development actors in their own right."

Another downside of this sort of CIDA funding is that it places the moral weight of the aid agency (and NGOs) on the side of the company. Mark Mattner, a PhD candidate at McGill University, wrote: "Operating in partnership with CIDA implies an ethical stamp of approval for particular projects. What could be wrong with an extractive project if the government finances development projects that are associated with it?" This is obviously the case with a specific mine but is also true at a broader political level. Tying Canadian aid funding to mining projects strengthens the political forces in the recipient countries supportive of the extractive industry all the while weakening critical voices.

Tomorrow: Canada's mining industry enjoys the benefits of a globe trotting, high-powered sales team: Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government.