Trudeau’s foreign policy feminist-washes corporate Canada

 

The Liberals’ “progressive” foreign policy claims are essentially all lies.

A recent Globe and Mail investigation confirms the toothless nature of Justin Trudeau’s promised corporate ombudsperson. According to Hollow Core, the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) has yet to complete a single investigation of a company accused of abuses abroad. This despite the Globe finding Canadian firms responsible for “more than 50 instances in 30 countries in the past five years … of alleged human-rights abuses.”

Prior to their 2015 election the Liberals promised to establish an independent ombudsperson to curtail international mining abuses. But Justin Trudeau’s government waited nearly four years to announce CORE and two more years passed before it started taking cases. More importantly, the government failed to provide CORE with sufficient power to properly investigate companies’ abuses. And even if it does, the ombudsperson has little power to restrict public support for firms found responsible for egregious violations. The best it can do is act like an advisor to the trade minister.

As part of the Mining Association of Canada’s bid to thwart serious regulation, the ombudsperson’s mandate was broadened beyond the extractive sector. While this may have some superficial appeal, the demand for an ombudsperson was part of challenging a predatory government-assisted mining industry.

The Globe reveals how an ombudsperson promoted to curtail an epidemic of Canadian mining abuses in the Global South has morphed into a tool to assist Washington in its bid to contain China’s rise. Reportedly, 13 of 15 cases brought to CORE have to do with forced labour in the Xinjiang region of China.  (more...)

Trudeau’s foreign policy feminist-washes corporate Canada