The message has been delivered, says Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell.

Bagnell said Bill C-300 may have been defeated Wednesday evening, but he insists the fiery debate in recent days has impressed upon Canadian mining companies the need to work responsibly while conducting business in developing countries overseas.

"It was a message for those few rogue companies that are hurting the industry, who are hurting the Yukon mining industry, who are giving them a bad name,” said Bagnell, who voted in favour of C-300.

The private member's bill first introduced in early 2009 by Liberal John McKay was defeated in the House of Commons by a vote of 140-134, with the ruling Conservatives leading the opposition to the proposed legislation.

The intent of the C-300 was to force the federal government to investigate allegations of human rights abuses or substandard environmental practices by Canadian mining and oil and gas companies receiving federal financial assistance to work overseas. It compelled Ottawa to cut off funding where there were findings of guilt.

MiningWatch Canada spokeswoman Catherine Coumans said this morning she has never seen industry respond with such a furious lobby against a piece of legislation.

"They pulled out all the stops,” she said, adding that she too feels as Bagnell does: the legislation may have been defeated, but the message has been driven home.

Carl Schulze, president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, said the industry lobby was so intense because C-300 opened the door for anybody to go head hunting with absolutely no grounds.

Companies that hold their corporate responsibilities in the highest regard could have been torpedoed by unsubstantiated allegations, he said.

Schulze said in a world where companies depend on the investment community, even a suggestion of impropriety can be devastating to a corporate image.

Bill C-300, the chamber president insisted earlier this week, could have prompted companies to relocate to another country, and take their jobs with them.

Besides, there are government and private-sector mechanisms in place already to ensure Canadian companies live up to their social responsibilities, he said.

Bagnell insisted Bill C-300 would not have been necessary had Prime Minister Stephen Harper implemented recommendations agreed to in 2007 during round table discussions regarding corporate social responsibility.

The recommendations, he said, were agreed to by representatives of the federal government, industry and non-government organizations.

Key among them was the creation of an independent ombudsman to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by Canadian companies receiving assistance from Export Development Canada, Bagnell said.

He said the federal government announced this week it is beginning to implement a mechanism to ensure companies receiving federal assistance are operating responsibly.

The only shortfall, said the Yukon's MP, is that companies can only be investigated if they agree to participate.

Bagnell emphasized the vast majority of mining companies have a solid track record when it comes to their social responsibilities.

But a few bad apples shouldn't be allowed to spoil the whole bunch, he suggested.

Export Development Canada provides Canadian companies working overseas with loans, loan guarantees and insurance.

EDC spokesman Phil Taylor explained today that in 2009, for instance, the federal Crown corporation loaned mining companies $1.3 billion in financial capital. There are no grants, and the Export Development Canada is a self-sustaining commercial entity which does not receive federal government funding, he said.

In 2009, mining companies received $7.3 billion in insurance, either to cover political risk or the potential loss of revenue from foreign companies that don't want to pay their bills, he explained.

Absent from yesterday's vote were 13 Liberals, and Bagnell said he accepts there may have been those who didn't show up because they didn't want to vote against the majority of their caucus.

The MiningWatch spokeswoman said she knows there were at least four MPs who didn't show up for that very reason, and maybe as many as seven.

Coumans said both the NDP and the Bloc assured their full support for Bill C-300 from the outset.

The question was always with the Liberals, she said.

Bagnell said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was on the road and couldn't be there.

Coumans said Ignatieff has always said he doesn't vote on private member's bills, though he was there recently to vote against the private motion to defeat the gun legislation. He's also indicated he has some concerns with Bill C-300, she said.

Coumans said just in the last week the mining lobby has changed its tact from opposing a bill about social responsibilities to attacking legislation that will kill jobs in the mining sector.

And it focused on MPs who come from mining communities, she pointed out.

This week, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro of Peterbourgh, Ont. sent out a press release criticizing Bagnell for supporting a bill that would kill jobs in the Yukon.

Coumans acknowledged that MiningWatch Canada did have its own lobby effort, but she insisted it did have the resources to come anywhere close to the lobby put forward by industry.

The organization did send out an alert to Amnesty International three hours before Wednesday's vote asking them to have its membership contact a list of nine Liberal and ask for their support for Bill C-300. Bagnell was on the list.