This past month has been filled with headline-grabbing news events and, for a change, it was not only politics that dominated those news stories, but rather financial markets themselves, with gold and mining shares grabbing a major share of attention.

Two potentially important Canadian projects, which could have produced revenues in the billions and jobs in the tens of thousands, have now been officially abandoned and the reasons offered by both relate to the economic impossibility of successfully negotiating all the regulatory obstacles that have been presented.