Friday, November 24, 2000

OTTAWA - Today, a coalition of citizen groups called on all federal political parties to commit to putting rules in place to ensure that Canadian corporations act responsibly. An analysis of the party platforms done by the groups shows that none of the parties are committed to requiring corporations to meet internationally-accepted standards of transparency, accountability to shareholders and stakeholders, and protection of human rights, labour rights and the environment.

"Canada is far behind other countries in requiring corporations to act responsibly," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the nation-wide Corporate Responsibility Coalition, "Its about time the government stopped corporations from imposing costs on others, while reaping all the benefits."

The coalition called for changes to specific laws, all of which currently allow Canadian corporations to act irresponsibly within Canada and abroad. The key laws are the Export Development Act (which governs the Export Development Corporation), the Canadian Business Corporations Act, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Criminal Code of Canada, the Access to Information Act and the Special Economics Measures Act.

The Export Development Corporation (EDC), a public financial institution, operates in secrecy and without regard for international standards on the environment and human rights. "Parties must be concerned with the unaccountability of the EDC if they are interested in protecting Canada's image abroad from such disasters as the Three Gorges dam in China, the Omai gold mine in Guyana and the Urra dam in Colombia" said Pamela Foster, Coordinator of the NGO Working Group on the Export Development Corporation.

Public opinion polls show that a large majority of Canadians want Canadian corporations to act ethically, to treat employees fairly and well, and to protect the environment. The coalition reviewed five party platforms, and found that ensuring corporate Canada acts responsibly is not a priority for any party.

On the issue of transparency, only the Canadian Alliance platform refers to the improper exemption of government agencies (such as the EDC) from the Access to Information Act but the Party makes no promises to remove the exemption. The Bloc platform mentions increased transparency for trade negotiations but not for corporate actions.

With regard to increasing the environmental accountability of corporate Canada, the Alliance and the Tories explicitly promise that they will not increase regulations for corporations. The Liberals, Bloc and NDP mention that trade agreements should always respect the needs of citizens, their communities and the evironment. The NDP also pledges to introduce a "green screen" on federal government decision-making, but it is unclear whether this commitment would apply to Crown corporations, like the EDC, that are currently exempted from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Concerning other measures to increase corporate responsibility, the NDP promises criminal charges for corporate owners, directors and managers who break the law. In addition, both the Bloc and the NDP promise to sanction Canadian companies that deal with totalitarian regimes. "While targeted sanctions can be useful, more options are needed to prevent companies like Talisman Oil from joining forces with brutal dictatorships, such as Sudan. Canada needs a wider range of legal tools to ensure that companies are not complicit in human rights violations," said Kathy Vandergrift, senior policy analyst with World Vision Canada.

"All the parties want the support of Canadians on Monday, but they have done little to address the key concerns of Canadians about corporate wrongdoings," said Duff Conacher, "We call on all the parties to commit to passing laws that require corporations to act responsibly."