Beginning with some of the definitions, we did start on some of them. In subclause 2(1), under “Interpretation”, you talk about a “corporation” including “any company or legal person incorporated by or under an Act of Parliament or of any province.” We're not clear about whether this means Canadian companies that are incorporated in the host country or whether they are Canadian companies that may be partnered with or under joint venture with another company in another country.
Again under “Interpretation”, when you go into “developing countries”, it refers to a “list of countries and territories eligible for Canadian development assistance” as “established by the Minister of International Cooperation.” CIDA has informed us that there is no such list, and it's not clear to us whether this bill purports that the minister is to create such a list. This would also have foreign policy implications if we were to create such a list. There is a list of countries that currently receive ODA, but that list changes each year, so there is no list of countries that are “eligible” to receive ODA.
We understand, when you talk about “international human rights standards” means standards that are based on international human rights conventions to which Canada is a party and on international customary law”, that this is referring to treaties and obligations that are obligations on states and are written, to quote Dr. Ruggie, “by states for states” and are not easily translatable for corporations. In fact, Dr. Ruggie, who is the special representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, has reported on April 22 to the Human Rights Council exactly what I said, that these are treaties that are written by states for states, and even the experts on human rights do not clearly understand their meaning for business. We would have some difficulty there, I think, in establishing those kinds of guidelines.
As is mentioned under “mineral resources”, there is a non-exhaustive list of those that are not included here, but it needs some clarification.
When the bill refers to “mining, oil or gas activities” including the transportation of the product out of a developing country or on the high seas controlled directly or indirectly by a Canadian company, this is a very broad definition. There could be unforeseen consequences up and downstream, companies that are related, so we're not entirely sure of the full extent of the impact there. Would it include soil remediation companies that maybe would be called in after the fact by a mining operation for cleanups? It's very broad.
When we get to the interchangeable use of...the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of International Trade are used interchangeably in this. The interchangeable nature is somewhat confusing and could lead to a duplication of efforts and resources. It also leaves the accountability somewhat unclear to us.
When we turn to the “Purpose”, clause 3 talks about “corporations engaged in mining, oil or gas activities and receiving support from the Government of Canada”. That support would probably need to be defined better for us. We're not entirely sure what the extent of that support would be, although there are obviously hints of it in the consequential amendments.
There's also a reference here to “environmental best practices”. We're not sure which environmental best practices are being referred to here. There's no body or standard cited in the rest of the bill. Generally, we refer to CSR best practice where there are internationally recognized standards out there.