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It's telling that when Stephen Harper announced Canada's plans for tougher mandatory disclosure rules on mining and energy companies' payments to foreign governments, he did so in Britain rather that at home. It demonstrates the degree to which international concerns, above any homegrown sense of morality, are driving and will continue to drive Canada's regulatory agenda on this issue.

Even as the Prime Minister announced Canada's plans in London on Wednesday, he noted that 70 per cent of the world's publicly traded mining companies are listed on Canada's stock exchanges. Indeed, Toronto is the world's biggest hub for financing in the mining sector; it would have made abundant sense to make the announcement there.

But he didn't. He chose instead to speak to an international audience in a major global financial capital, rather than to the constituency that will be directly affected by any new Canadian disclosure laws.

A cynic (and I am one) might question whether this move has more to do with enhancing Canada's reputation in international markets than addressing the ethics of our domestic corporate citizens. But it's also indicative of Canada climbing aboard a regulatory bandwagon that it is absolutely not driving. American and European lawmakers are already much further along than Canada on toughening disclosure requirements in order to clean up corruption and tax avoidance; Canada, its reputation tarnished by several embarrassing corporate missteps on foreign soil in the past year, is just now playing catch-up.

That may be by design. Canada's large resource sector is in no hurry to stick its neck out and accept a new and onerous regulatory framework that would raise its costs and make it uncompetitive in foreign markets. But now, with the U.S. Dodd-Frank disclosure rules for overseas mining and energy operations already in place, and with Britain and the European Union well down the road in hammering out their own proposals, Canada will have a guide for how far it can take its own regulation without going any further than Canadian companies' main foreign competition.

Mr. Harper's announcement was essentially devoid of details for this very reason; Canada has been waiting to see which way the international winds were blowing before setting its own sails in the same direction.

"We're looking for alignment" with U.S. and EU models, said Ross Gallinger, head of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, which has been working with the government on a draft framework for the Canadian regulations. In an interview Wednesday on Business News Network, he was very clear why: "Different reporting in Canada would cause undue burden for the sector, in terms of the reporting requirements."

Given the government's behind-the-curve approach to date, it would appear Mr. Harper agrees. While it's positive that the government is ready to move forward on mandatory disclosures, don't expect any grand regulatory innovation or bold ethical stance from Canada's lawmakers. We're followers on this front, not leaders – and perhaps more out of necessity than principle.

David Parkinson is a contributor to ROB Insight, the business commentary service available to Globe Unlimited subscribers. Click here for more of his Insights, and follow him on Twitter at @parkinsonglobe .

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