Wednesday, April 4, 2001

OTTAWA - Today, the nation-wide Corporate Responsibility Coalition, made up of 32 citizen groups representing over two million Canadians, criticized the federal government for failing to listen to Canadians on corporate responsibility issues. The Coalition is testifying in the afternoon before the Senate Banking Committee on Bill S-11, which amends the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA). More than 155,000 corporations are incorporated under the CBCA, including half of the Financial Post Top 500 corporations in Canada.

The Coalition revealed that the federal government essentially failed to consult with Canadians in a meaningful way during its 1998 consultation on the question of corporate directors and executives taking into account stakeholders (e.g. workers, customers, communities) when making decisions and in corporate activities. Industry Canada sent a consultation letter on the issue in July 1998 to only 41 citizen groups, while over 1,700 corporations, corporate associations and corporate lawyers were consulted.

Industry Canada decided not to enact the measure that corporations should take into account stakeholders based on only 68 responses to its consultation letter, of which 29 were from corporations, 8 from corporate associations, 15 from corporate lawyers, and only 4 from citizen groups. Also, former Industry Minister John Manley refused to meet with representatives of the Corporate Responsibility Coalition, and current Industry Minister Brian Tobin has failed to respond to a request for a meeting.

Polls show that Canadians want laws to ensure corporations act responsibly, but Bill S-11 contains only one measure concerning shareholder rights and none of the Coalition's proposed stakeholder rights proposals. "The federal government has ignored Canadians concerns about irresponsible corporations and bowed to a powerful corporate lobby coalition including Alcan, BCE, Imperial Oil, Nova Corporation, Northern Telecom, TransAlta Corporation and large corporate law firms," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the Corporate Responsibility Coalition.

Among other measures, the Corporate Responsibility Coalition wants the following changes to the Bill S-11:

• add requirement that corporate directors take into account stakeholder interests when making decisions, and account publicly for how they do so;
• add requirement to disclose the corporation's compliance record with many laws;
• add whistleblower protection for corporate employees;
• add a right for stakeholders to initiate a review of a corporation's overall activities;
• increase penalties for corporate wrongdoings; and
• require corporations to help create a nation-wide corporate watchdog group.

The Coalition presents its proposals to the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing Wednesday, April 4, at 3:30 pm in Room 505, Victoria Building in Ottawa.