Canada undertook a wide ranging consultation process on how its extractive industry should be regulated (CSR Roundtables). This culminated in a report by an Advisory Committee made up of industry, civil society and government representatives. Finance Minister Flaherty has made some strong statements about Canada's committment to social responsibility: 

“Accountability, transparency, fairness—these are the principles of this international partnership, designed to increase the disclosure of resource revenues in developing countries,” Minister Flaherty said following a meeting of Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors. “They are principles Canada supports, and we intend to play a leading role in ensuring that citizens, not just governments or foreign companies, share in their nation’s prosperity.”

The report has now languished on the shelves for 8 months. Stephen Harper is visiting Tanzania and announcing a major aid project at the same time as Canadian corporation Barrick Gold is facing criticism from civil society. What will happen after Stephen Harper's visit to Tanzania? Will the New Democratic Party commit to holding the Conservative government accountable?

CO: Indonesia has passed legislation making CSR mandatory for resource firms, now it has to figure out what that actually means

• The Jakarta Post reported the passage of the legislation on July 21, 2007

  • Article 74 of the law provides that a company that operates in any business field related to natural resources is required to institute social and environmental responsibility programs, and that sanctions will be imposed on non-compliant firms

• Article 74 is obviously vague but it shows the government's intention to enforce CSR despite corporate objections. At a minimum, Art. 74 seems to require that companies put in place programs that fulfill social and environmental responsibilities. If the government adopted a reasonableness standard, the minimum standard could be based on best practices and comparative standards from other countries.

• See the reaction of the Wall Street Journal and the surprising acceptance by Indonesia business groups below

• The question is what is Canada waiting for before it actually adopts the CSR Roundtables Recommendations?

CO: Mattel recalls toys made with lead paint in Chinese factories

Tip of the hat for recalling at least a million toys that could harm children
Wag of the finger for Mattel not monitoring suppliers sufficiently.

What is the standard of care that toy companies are expected to practice? Should the standard be higher, because Mattel and Fisher price are selling to children?

The challenge of monitoring suppliers for labour and sweatshop conditions is not a new one for Mattel 

CO: Search engines used to keep records of searches for undetermined time periods, but they are now changing their policies in response to the efforts of privacy advocacy organizations

• Search engines keep records of searches for advertizing purposes, but how long should they be able to keep these records?
• How many users actually read terms of use agreements? How many actually knew that any records were being kept?
• The issue seems to pit privacy rights vs. the free market. Consumers could theoretically just reject search engines that abuse privacy rights; however, this would require an unrealistic amount of computer literacy (who actually reads the fine print?).
• The work of organizations like Privacy International show the power of NGOs to change TNC behaviour through research, education and advocacy.