Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm really trying to help all members of the committee with this, because I've heard the Conservatives and I believe their hearts are in the right place when it comes to wanting to help the extractive sectors and the oil and gas sectors in Canada. The fact is that we have heard representations from the TMX, from people within the financial community at large and people who are responsible for the financing of the extractive sectors in Canada. We've also heard from the prospectors and miners of the country that these changes are going to have a very negative effect. We heard that from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.
I really urge the Conservatives to reconsider their position on this, because we have had very well-considered representations before this committee and in writing to individual members of this committee. I have a letter here from the TMX and another one from the PDAC, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, and from people such as John McCoach, who's president of TSX Venture Exchange, as examples. These are people who have spent their lives in financing the exploration and development of extractive sector opportunities in Canada and around the world, but they are based here in Canada. They are telling us in no uncertain terms, Mr. Chair, that these changes have the capacity to significantly damage our extractive sectors and our financial community in raising money for our extractive sectors at a time when it is not easy raising money for mining companies. It is a real challenge. We know what's happening around commodity prices right now.
The fact is that it costs Canadian jobs. It costs Canadian investors. I'm concerned particularly, given the precarious nature of mining finance in Canada right now, about a public policy measure that makes it tougher. We all know that commodities, the mining sector, and these things are cyclical. My concern is that if, through this type of change, we make it tougher for our mining sector during a period that is already difficult, we may see a real loss of activity in the future as things turn around.
I'll remind the committee that 80% of the mining deals transacted globally in the last five years were transacted in Toronto. I'll remind you of the jobs and the spinoff jobs from this.
As a country, we are very good at mining. It's something we have a tremendous efficacy in, and an exportable efficacy. We can take what we are good at here in Canada and we can actually help other countries develop their mining sectors. The good news from that—again, I appeal to the NDP on this as well—is that we can also export our corporate social responsibility in some ways.
Mr. Chair, I've spent some time in Latin America in places such as Colombia. The reality is that in a lot of places in Latin America, they have some of the same realities in developing their extractive sectors as we face in Canada. One of those realities is the existence of indigenous peoples. In Canada, our aboriginal and first nations peoples are an important part of our Canadian society and can represent a greater part of our Canadian economy. Twenty years ago, frankly, in our aboriginal and first nations communities there was a lot of opposition to mining and oil and gas activities. Today some of that has changed. We see aboriginal and first nations leaders as partners in the development of some of these sectors.
My concern is, Mr. Chair, that we could actually be helping countries like Colombia and countries throughout Latin America develop their mining sectors and at the same time develop wealth that is shared with their indigenous peoples. This is something that is being—