Antonio Baranda and Claudia Guerrero/Agencia Reforma
Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | 11:38
Mexico City.- President Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged that the government of Justin Trudeau complained because the crime extorts and does not allow a Canadian mining company to operate in the State of Guerrero.
In the morning conference, when talking about the North American Leaders Summit, the President also admitted that his government has a difference with Canada over the “electrical issue.”
“It’s that we have a difference with Canada, one, well, on the electrical issue; in mining, we should have more problems, because there are 125 Canadian mining companies, there are two problems on their part and one on our part,” commented.
“One, because there is a mining company that does not pay our taxes, and two, that they complain that they are not allowed to work in Guerrero, which is true, that they are extorted, and we are already seeing that, but from 125 mining companies.”
The Chief Executive recalled that, during the Summit, he exposed to the Prime Minister what he described as arbitrariness committed by the Canadian mining company San Javier, a subsidiary of New Gold Inc, in San Luis Potosí.
“I reminded Prime Minister Trudeau, with all due respect, that there are 32 states in our Republic, that there is a state called San Luis Potosí, that the coat of arms of that state has a hill, the hill of San Pedro, and I I said how it was before, that the federal and local PAN authorities, in collusion with a Canadian mining company, destroyed the Cerro de San Pedro”.
“And they destroyed the town, the Cerro de San Pedro, so there is the shield of San Luis, and there is the hill, but it no longer exists, even the Municipal President strangely committed suicide, so when I tell you all this, imagine what we are doing, then putting order”.
López Obrador explained that the electricity dispute with Canada has to do with power plants of Canadian companies that have self-supply permits, which is a type of energy generation that allows natural or legal persons to generate electricity for their own consumption and, with it, , access a more competitive supply than that offered by the CFE.
“According to the law, they are illegal, it is legal fraud (self-supply), it has even been resolved by the Supreme Court and what is happening? This company, which even bought the shares from another Italian company, They weren’t careful and started to make a partnership with some Mexican companies,” he said.
“With Oxxo, for example, which has to do with the REFORM, then, it is not self-supply because they do not generate energy for the Canadian companies that have the permit, but they simulate because supposedly Oxxo and all these companies have shares of one dollar per share, a full simulation, then we can no longer maintain that.”
López Obrador reiterated that a solution to the conflict is being sought that does not harm the complainant companies of the business partner. However, the President stressed, self-supply is illegal.
He affirmed that Trudeau – who visited Mexico City from January 9 to 11 – is a decent person and understood “what it is about”.
“Despite that, I made the commitment to receive the company managers and find a solution, find a way out that does not harm them because these companies collect money from Canadian pension funds,” he added.
“So, we want to find a solution, but our adversaries misinform and seek confrontation. What REFORMA says is that they are thinking of other things, ‘they are going to come and scold him’, REFORMA says that, that they were photos and few agreements, ‘it’s that they avoid conflicts, they prioritize photos’, well yes”.
And Mexico claims for a mining company that does not pay taxes
After admitting these two “problems” with Canada, López Obrador pointed out that Mexico has also been dissatisfied with that country for the non-payment of taxes by a Canadian mining company, whose name he did not mention.
Since 2021, López Obrador called on the Canadian mining company First Majestic to pay its taxes. The federal authorities seek to collect some 500 million dollars from the company that operates in Durango, for an alleged debt with the treasury.
The miner initiated legal proceedings against the Mexican government after a protracted tax dispute.
“Just as these arbitrariness were committed, now fortunately the majority of Canadian mining companies are helping us so that the territory is not destroyed, that the environment is cared for, they are the ones that pay the mining workers the most and they are the ones that help the most to communities and state governments,” added the President.
“In other words, everything has its pros and cons, so we always seek balance, but there are people, our adversaries, who would like it to be like before. Who handled economic policy? Well, those at the top, the powerful? Who ran the Ministry of Labor? Well, those above, the miners.”
