Export Development Canada (EDC) has offered a US$1-billion loan to Brazilian mining giant Vale for spending related to Canadian exports and “future Canadian procurement in its international operations.”
Of that total, $250 million will be earmarked for development projects in Ontario, with another $250 million to be spent on the Long Harbor nickel processing plant in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The remaining $500 million is to be used for the “future purchase of Canadian goods and services by Vale for its operations outside Canada, or to support Vale exports involving signed contracts with Canadian suppliers.”
Although the EDC is an arm's-length organization, United Steelworkers' national director for Canada, Ken Neumann, has lambasted the federal government for financially supporting Vale, who is still locked in a 15-month strike with Voisey's Bay workers.
“It is shocking that the Conservative government would reward a foreign corporation that has provoked two of the longest and most bitter labour disputes in Canadian history,” said Neumann in a release, referring to the nearly year-long strike at Vale's Sudbury and Port Colborne operations.
Similarly, Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle -- who also serves as the NDP's mining critic -- has also attacked the government, labeling the move “an affront to workers and their communities.”
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