By now, most Canadian mining and oil & gas companies have
heard of the federal government's intention to introduce
legislation this fall mandating public disclosure of what companies
pay to host countries and aboriginal groups to develop resource
projects. Canada's efforts in resource transparency, which will
apply to fiscal years ending after June 30 of next year, follow
similar rules in the United States first introduced in the
Dodd-Frank Act, and an amendment last year to the European
Union's Transparency Directive. Thus far in Canada the focus
around revenue transparency has been on the details, such as how to
cover private companies, where this disclosure will be housed, and
the consequences for non-compliance. While these issues will get
worked out in the legislative process, the focus of this article is
the larger picture of how this information, the most significant
change to resource disclosure in over a decade, will fundamentally
change resource development
