I'll be the one to take the other side, as usual, and will concede off the mark that I have never been to Ecuador.

Is a Cdn Co paying $ to explore in a foreign country and maybe setting up a mine exploiting? I am sure that those that they hire are very happy for the opportunity. There will be taxes to be paid to the various stages of government on both exploration and extraction. Isn't the flip side, ignoring these countries and not having them develop with the "first world" not worse? The only down side I can see is if money is being siphoned off by crooked politians, or if environmental standards are not being upheld, in which case it is up first to the governments of the 2 countries (ie Canada and Ecuador) to hash it out, as well as shareholders to ensure that their companies behave resposibly if the management isn't already.

As a bit of an aside, I think we will do better economically if we can improve the conditions of the poorer nations. Look at what the Chinese boom is doing, imagine if Africa and other regions became a part of it too. If they all bought a couple double doubles, a gold chain and a GPS, my timmies, KXL and Garmin stocks would benefit greatly! But with much of the world living on $2 a day, we are a long way off. I think capitalism can work for everyone.