A survey of 300 mining executives and lawyers by Baker & McKenzie compared the mining sectors of Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia and South Africa and found Canada was seen as the most encouraging environment for project investment.

The report found that 88% of respondents were encouraged by Canada’s political stability while 89% responded favorably to the country’s solid infrastructure and 91% said they were encouraged by Canada’s ability to enforce contractual rights.

Canada’s ascendency to the top of the list emphasized the importance of political stability in long-term operations over other concerns, such as regulation policy and tax and royalty regimes.

In fact, although Canada scored high marks for its infrastructure and strong legal system, 88% of respondents said investing in the country had become more expensive, 73% said it had become more complicated and 66% said it had become more time consuming.

Most concerns regarding Canadian mining related to regulation red tape.

Only 29% of those surveyed were encouraged by the legal issues relating to Canada’s indigenous people’s rights and Canadian regulatory processes were described by the study as “inefficient and duplicative” – sometimes requiring five years or longer to process.

Recommendations from the review included a streamlining of the regulatory process in Canada with regard to an increased amount of effort to address social issues such as indigenous rights and environmental damage.