Thursday, April 6, 2000

OTTAWA - Today, at a news conference in Ottawa, the newly formed Corporate Responsibility Coalition launched its campaign to have corporate responsibility measures included in the changes to the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA). Bill S-19, which amends the CBCA, was introduced in the Senate recently and is currently being debated. More than 155,000 corporations are incorporated under the CBCA, including half of the 1999 Financial Post Top 500 corporations in Canada.

Democracy Watch has gathered together 25 other citizen groups, 15 national and 10 from five provinces, into the Corporate Responsibility Coalition, and the Coalition released its letter to Industry Minister John Manley setting out the Coalition's proposals (also sent to members of the Federal Cabinet and key senators. (Please see list of groups in the Coalition set out below)

Despite widespread support for laws to ensure corporations act responsibly, the government's proposed changes to the CBCA ignore almost every corporate responsiblity proposal made by citizen groups. "The proposed changes to the law will do very little to increase the accountability of corporations to shareholders, consumers, workers, communities and others who suffer the many negative impacts of irresponsible corporations" said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch.

The Corporate Responsibility Coalition calls on the government to amend Bill S-19 to include the following broadly supported measures (among other related proposals) to empower corporate shareholders and stakeholders and to ensure corporations are held accountable for wrongdoings:

1. As in the U.S., require corporate managers to circulate a shareholder's proposal to other shareholders even if the proposal addresses general economic, political, racial, religious, or social causes, unless the proposal has no connection to the corporation's activities.
2. Require that a corporation justify why a shareholder proposal is excluded to a review agency in a low-cost, quick procedure with the corporation paying the costs of the review.
3. Require directors to consider non-shareholder stakeholder interests in making decisions, and to account publicly for the extent to which they do.
4. Require corporations to disclose their records of compliance with environmental, criminal, competition, human rights, labour, health and safety laws, and to protect whistleblowers.
5. Prohibit corporations that violate laws from receiving grants or contracts from government for a specific period of time (e.g. 5-10 years), as proposed by the U.S. government.
6. Lower the barriers to holding corporations liable for crimes by employees at work.
7. Allow stakeholders to apply for dissolution of a corporation that repeatedly violates laws.
8. Require corporations to send a flyer to individual shareholders inviting them to join a nation-wide corporate watchdog group (some U.S. states have required utilities to do this).

"Canada is far behind other countries in requiring corporations to act responsibly" said Craig Forcese of the Canadian Lawyers Association for International Human Rights. "Its about time the government stopped corporations from imposing costs on others, while reaping all the benefits."

NATIONAL
Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC)
Canadian Friends of Burma Canadian Lawyers Association for International Human Rights (CLAIHR)
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Citizens for Public Justice
Democracy Watch
Greenpeace Canada
Maquila Solidarity Network
MiningWatch Canada
National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC)
National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
Oxfam Canada
Partnership Africa Canada
Science for Peace
Sierra Club of Canada
Sierra Youth Coalition

QUÉBEC
Association de protection des épargnants et investisseurs du Québec (APEIQ)

ONTARIO
Alliance for Public Accountability
Low Income Families Together (LIFT)
Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Guelph
Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Ottawa
Rittenhouse (A New Vision)
Social Change Associates

PRAIRIE PROVINCES
Saskatchewan Action Committee on the Status of Women

BRITISH COLUMBIA
Citizens Council on Corporate Issues (CCCI)
Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group (VIPIRG)