Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 17th, 2009

[Viviane Weitzner]

I think the eight-month period is a window within which you could work. Whether or not that needs to be extended is something we'd need to look at. There is a review process for this bill—it isn't all set in stone. If we needed changes to the timeframe, they could be made. I don't think it's necessarily set in stone.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Did you hear any of the comments by the people from the Canada Pension Plan about their current policies with respect to corporate social responsibility affecting their investment decisions?

[Viviane Weitzner]

Yes.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

What's your view of that?

[Viviane Weitzner]

What's my view of how corporate social responsibility affects their investment decisions?

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

As they described it now, in the document that they--

[Viviane Weitzner]

I think there are certain concrete responsibilities that we have as investors.

I'm sorry, but I didn't see how that--

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Do you see the difficulty that if the Canada Pension Plan is a plan that's governed by nine governments, not by ten governments, that--

[Viviane Weitzner]

Yes, I understand that difficulty, and I do understand that amendments could be made to strengthen the bill from that perspective.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you.

Madame Bourgeois.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, Ms. Weitzner. We appreciate you being here very much because you remind us of the situations in the world where our Canadian mining companies are responsible and where we absolutely have to act. With all the examples that you gave us, we could also have talked about the Siocon Subanon Association in the Philippines, about which there were complaints a few years ago.

I am very happy to see that the representatives of the organizations who were at this table just a few minutes ago to tell us about their concerns with Bill C-300 are still in the room. You are telling us about specific facts and I feel that these extremely brilliant people are going to think about what you have just told us.

I think that Bill C-300 can be made better. Every bill can.

As a member of this committee and a Bloc Québécois MP, I would appreciate it if everyone who came here this morning to tell us that we will start to behave responsibly towards the communities whose resources we are extracting as a result of dialogue and voluntary measures would have a word with the promoters of Bill C-300. I would appreciate it if they would promote responsible investment and tell us how to improve the bill so that people are not harmed and so that aboriginal rights and human rights are respected in the countries whose resources we are extracting.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Madame Bourgeois.

Mr. Goldring, you have about a minute.

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I appreciate your comments, and I agree with you that there are many things that have to be developed and many things have to be worked out. Your reply to the comments from Mr. Rae about article 4.... It is ambiguous and not very clear at all. Your earlier comments were also of interest, when you were talking about Colombia, about the very progressive laws of the country and the fact that Colombians themselves aren't necessarily adhering to them.

I'd like your commentary on how we can expect Canadian companies to adhere to laws that the citizens of a country don't adhere to.

[Viviane Weitzner]

I think that's just a matter of doing responsible business in a country. Most policies--if you look at e3, even--will acknowledge that in order to do business in a country you have to respect their laws and other international standards that apply, and their international commitments as well. So you'd expect them to do that from their own responsible--

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

So this would follow through to the understanding that the corporations should subscribe to the United Nations rights of the indigenous people, which Canada is not a subscriber to?

[Viviane Weitzner]

Absolutely. In the case of Colombia, this is something the Colombian government has supported. These are fundamental rights, inherent rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, and in doing business in their homelands or by their homelands, you should. In fact, that's demanded here in Canada as well, whether or not we've supported that UN declaration.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Goldring.

Mr. Dewar, for a few comments.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

To our guest from Colombia, because we don't have time, I'd appreciate a submission to the committee from his community's perspective on the concerns they might have about the extractive industries, what he'd like to see from Canada, and how he would view this bill.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much, Mr. Dewar.

Again, to Mr. Rosero, please feel free to make a written submission. Mr. Dewar kind of left it wide open there for you to voice your concerns, and be assured that our committee would have access to that.

We want to thank you for your attendance of our committee today and for your perspective of Bill C-300 and your comments in regard to corporate social responsibility.

We're going to suspend and reconvene in one minute with committee business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We'll reconvene this meeting, and we're moving into committee business. It's not in camera; it's public.

At the close of committee business in the last meeting, at the Thursday, November 5 meeting, a motion was moved by Mr. Paul Dewar. It ended up being debated and then the debate was adjourned on the motion of Madam Francine Lalonde. The motion reads:

That, in the context of its study on the treatment of Canadians abroad, the Committee report the following recommendations to the House of Commons calling on the government to recognize its constitutional duty to protect Canadian citizens abroad; enact legislation to ensure the consistent and non-discriminatory provision of consular services to all Canadians in distress; and create an independent ombudsperson’s office responsible for monitoring the government’s performance and ordering the Minister of Foreign Affairs to give protection to a Canadian in distress if the Minister has failed to act in a timely manner.

That is the motion that we were debating at the close of last day. We'll move to debate again.

Mr. Goldring.

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I have difficulty with this motion on its very premise because I do not believe that there is a constitutional reference anywhere in the Constitution of Canada that would subscribe to this issue. So I have difficulty with it on its very premise, and I think that this type of a motion that ignores the reality of what is in the Constitution is by itself trying to amend the Constitution, which simply cannot be done by this committee. Amending the Constitution is very specific: it calls for 50% of the population of the country and six out of the ten provinces or territories, and it has to go through a procedure that involves not only passing the motion in Parliament but passing the motion in the Senate and passing the motion in every legislature of the country. I believe that its very premise is wrong.

I'll start out by reinforcing this by going through the Constitution. I will invite people to—

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

You'll have to start at the beginning.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[A voice]

I didn't bring my sleeping bag.