NDP private members bill on CSR for mining companies

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Alexa McDonough is introducing a private members' bill to hold mining corporations accountable for the upholding of human rights standards in their operations in other countries.

Here is a link to the bill, and here is the press release in full:

OTTAWA – On the eve of the 2008 G8 leader’s summit in Japan, Alexa McDonough (Halifax), NDP Peace and International Development Advocate, has challenged Prime Minister Harper to make good on the commitment made a full year ago by taking ownership of her bill, tabled today in the House of Commons, dealing with Corporate Social Responsibility of Mining Corporations Outside Canada.

“At the G8 summit in Germany (June 2007), the Prime Minister boasted that Canada would become a world leader in corporate social responsibility for mining companies doing business abroad,” said McDonough. “A full year later, the government has still not acted, raising the question of what the PM will tell his G8 friends in Japan?”

“Today introduced a Private Member’s Bill on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), effectively putting into law what the Prime Minister endorsed on the world stage at last year’s G8 Summit. The government has no excuse for its grotesquely irresponsible inaction. If the Prime Minister wants to avoid being a laughing stock, he will support my CSR bill and live up to his promises.”

McDonough’s challenge follows 15 months of government silence since a series of national roundtables leading to a consensus report by industry and development experts, recommended government oversight and increased accountability for Canadian corporate mining practices in developing countries.

“The roundtable recommendations reflected a consensus among industry leaders and development experts, calling for corporate social responsibility standards concerning environment, human rights and workers rights,” explained McDonough. “ Specifically, they called for an independent ombudsperson to investigate the worst corporate violations, and accountability around how and when the federal government supports Canadian companies in developing countries.”

At the G8 meetings last June, the PM announced, ‘implementation of the recommendations from this process will place Canada among the most active G8 countries in advancing… corporate social responsibility.’

“Industry and civil society agreed this was the right approach, and the PM was eager to strut the recommendations before other G8 leaders. I urge him to show the world he was serious about his commitment by supporting my bill, and placing into law the recommendations arising from the roundtable process.”