Corporate accountability

Civil Society Statement on CSR Counsellor

Government’s new Toothless Review Mechanism Underlines why Responsible Mining Bill C-300 is Necessary

Ottawa, October 26, 2010 – One day before the third and final vote in the House of Commons on Bill C-300, the government has launched its Review Process, a dispute resolution mechanism whereby the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor proposes to mediate between aggrieved communities and Canadian mining, oil, and gas companies.

Significant deficiencies render this mechanism inadequate to resolve serious community grievances: the dispute mechanism is voluntary in nature, lacks a transparent fact-finding function and will lead to neither recommendations to government nor to sanctions. Consequently, Bill C-300 remains an important piece of legislation.

Canadian Mining: Still Unaccountable

The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) recently devoted an edition of its magazine Report on the Americas to Canadian foreign policy in Latin America. The Canadian edition features an article by HI's Program Officer on Canadian mining investment in the region. The article describes recent efforts to reform domestic policy and law regarding the overseas operations of Canadian extractive companies. It focuses on current initiatives that seek to create accountability mechanisms for several government agencies that facilitate Canadian mining, oil and gas investments in the global South.

To read the article click here.

To access the article in Spanish click here.

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International CSOs Comment on Draft IFC Policies

COMMENTS ON IFC’S CONSULTATION DRAFTS OF THE IFC SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND DISCLOSURE POLICY

AUGUST 27, 2010

General Observations

The undersigned civil society organizations believe the latest drafts of the Sustainability Policy, Performance Standards, and Disclosure Policy respond usefully to some issues raised previously by many civil society organizations, including, for example, several issues related to gender, resettlement, and climate change. Many of our most significant concerns, however, remain unaddressed, including centrally important issues related to due diligence, transparency, and accountability, and other issues related to substantive concerns.

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Monthly Issue Update: August 31, 2010

Financial Transaction Tax feasible, says report

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Monthly Issue Update - May 31/June 30, 2010

G8-G20 summits fall flat, ignore call for sustainable future
This month “Fortress Toronto”, with its 18,000 strong security forces and four kilometer chain link fence, bore witness to a Peoples’ Summit ripe with ideas and alternatives, petitions signed by 1.75 million asking leaders to invest in the future now, a 25,000 strong peaceful protest, media stunts galore, some regrettable violence, and two deeply disappointing summits.

Press Responses: June 9, 2010

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/tax-06-09-2010

Financial transaction tax is no bank tax
By Fraser Reilly-King
Published June 9, 2010

Big banks can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

This past weekend, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty managed to rally China, Brazil and South Korea behind him at G20 meetings in Busan, South Korea, and put those pesky discussions about a global bank tax to rest.

Instead of discussing a bank tax at this month's summit, the G20 agreed to "develop principles reflecting the need to protect taxpayers, reduce risks from the financial system, protect the flow of credit in good times and bad, taking into account individual country's circumstances and options."

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Chilean Communities and CSOs Urge U.S. Ex-Im Bank to Reject Pascua Lama

Fred P. Hochberg
President
Export-Import Bank of the United States
Washington, D.C.
[Via e-mail]

May 10, 2010

Re: Pascua Lama

Dear President Hochberg,

It has come to our attention that the Ex-Im Bank has received a request to finance the binational Pascua Lama mine. We are writing to strongly urge that the Ex-Im Bank reject financing for the Pascua Lama mine.

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Canadian Robin Hood Tax Video

Financial Transaction Tax

A tiny fee on the trade in financial transactions paid by banks, not by people it would raise billions of dollars for fighting poverty and climate change at home and around the world.

http://robinhoodtax.ca

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Monthly Issue Update - April 30, 2010

IMF, European Union look to bail out Greece
Greece’s debt crisis is finally coming to a head, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to deal with the country’s deficit and heavy debt load being hammered out in Athens. The European Union and the IMF are negotiating the terms of a bailout as fears mount that Greece’s crisis could soon spread to other countries in Europe and beyond. Other nations carrying significant debt loads, including the United States, are concerned that the Greek crisis is a harbinger of things to come, closer to home.