Chileans reject Gabriel Boric’s new, progressive constitution

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Chileans on Sunday overwhelmingly voted against President Gabriel Boric’s proposed constitution, which sought to implement environmental regulations that may have impacted Canadian mining operations in the region.

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Sixty-two per cent of Chileans voted to reject the constitution, and 38 per cent voted to accept it, with 99 per cent of ballots counted. 

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The proposal prioritized human rights and the environment in stark contrast to its market-focused predecessor that was written during the reign of Augusto Pinochet. Had the document been approved, it could have put Canadian mining interests in the region at risk, according to the 2022 Latin America Mining Risk Index by Americas Market Intelligence (AMI).

Chile hosts 55 Canadian mining companies, making it home to 11 per cent of Canada’s international mining assets, according to the federal Department of Natural Resources. Chile is Canada’s second-most important mining market after the United States.

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Article 145 of the proposed constitution would have established the state’s domain over mines and deposits, and regulated their use according to “their finite, non-renewable nature, intergenerational public interest and environmental protection.” 

The constitution sought to hold a range of bad actors to account, Canadian mining companies included. On a visit to Canada in June, Boric told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that mining companies “were used to destroying our territory and were used to (getting) a lot of revenues, and they didn’t (give) enough to the countries where they worked. And some of those companies were Canadian.”

In the lead up to the vote, Canadian mining companies closely monitored the situation, but were unconvinced the constitution would pass. 

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The same constitution that ushered Chile into the world of international trade, making it one of the stronger economies of the region, has also held the country firmly in the past, a reminder of the Pinochet years, which were characterized by torture, executions and the internment of leftists.

The vote came after three years of negotiations that began when protests broke out in 2019 over a hike in the cost of a subway ticket. The unrest led to a referendum in October 2020, where 78 per cent of Chileans voted to rewrite the constitution, a decision that at the time was met with jubilation. 

Undoubtedly, Chileans want to move past the dark Pinochet era, but “the left pushed too far, too hard and too fast,” said Carlo Dade, who studies trade policy at the Canada West Foundation, a think-tank in Calgary.

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“I think there was support for change,” he said, but added that everyone had a different idea of what “change” truly meant. 

It’s one thing to vote against the status quo, but another thing to agree on what change should look like, said Irene Mia, a conflict and security researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think-tank.

“The rejection of this constitution is not a rejection of the idea of having a new constitution, as confirmed by the polls,” she said. “The likely outcome will be a more moderate document, with a bigger role for the state, provisions to ensure more inclusivity and more attention for the environment.”

Boric, in a televised address, said the efforts to rewrite the constitution were not in vain.

“This is how countries advance best, learning from experience and, when necessary, turning back on their tracks to find a new path forward,” he said.

Dade agreed, saying the left is now better positioned to make the changes they seek. They’ve “moved ‘the bar of compromise’,” he said. “In other words, they’ll be making concessions from a position of strength.”

• Email: mcoulton@postmedia.com | Twitter: marisacoulton