Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the hon. member for Scarborough—Guildwood for presenting this private member's bill on corporate accountability.
In the 38th Parliament, a similar but much stronger member's private bill was presented by the former leader of the NDP, Ed Broadbent. New Democrats have long stood for corporate accountability as a principle of international trade. I strongly believe that Canadian companies who operate overseas must be held to the same standards as they are in Canada.
Canada must see to the protection of workers, their families and the environment everywhere Canadian companies operate. I realize that that is what this legislative measure is trying to do. Unfortunately, I do not think it succeeds.
Bill C-300, an act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries, is not perfect. Its scope and application are too limited, and its enforcement mechanisms lack teeth.
There are three main areas of concern that I have with this piece of legislation.
First, the bill should be expanded to include all incorporated companies in Canada, not just companies receiving support from the Government of Canada. This is a significant loophole that would greatly weaken the application of the bill.
Second, the legislation should include additional provisions within the Criminal Code to strengthen its enforcement mechanism and to ensure that all companies operating in Canada have the same legal duty to protect workers' rights in their foreign operations as in their domestic operations.
Third, this piece of legislation should establish an ombudsman to carry out the provision of this legislation rather than relying on the minister.
As usual, the Liberal caucus and its members claim to uphold certain principles, in this case that of corporate accountability, but again they fail to deliver effective legislation to enshrine those principles into law.
While I always welcome progress on a matter of global corporate accountability, Bill C-300 would only encourage a fraction of companies operating in Canada and would have no meaningful enforcement mechanism. In other words, this bill is only aimed at encouraging companies to respect the principle of corporate accountability and not enforcing such behaviour.
Bill C-298 is a far more effective piece of legislation. The hon. member for Scarborough—Guildwood should consider putting forth or accepting two amendments to his bill similar to clauses contained in Bill C-298, especially the establishment of an ombudsman.
Overall, I feel that these issues can be resolved at the committee level, which is why I will support this bill through second reading. The most troubling thing about this bill is that it is a private member's bill. The Conservative government should be making this issue a priority and investing the appropriate resources to finally address this concern.
As a retired steelworker and Vale Inco employee I know first-hand how important it is that we stand together as workers to protect each other. I have worked for close to 35 years for a mining company which has operations outside of Canada and I want to show my solidarity with my brothers and sisters throughout the developing world by supporting the bill through second reading.
As the late Rosemary Brown said, “unless all of us are free, none of us will be free”. It is time for our government to take global corporate accountability seriously and set out clear expectations and consequences for all Canadian companies operating abroad.
