Matthews: Should Canadian corporations be permitted to do business with corrupt and repressive regimes?

By: /
12 March, 2012
By: Kyle Matthews
Executive director, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies

In a perfect world there would be no corrupt or repressive regimes, making life much easier for Canadian corporations conducting business abroad. Unfortunately, our world is not perfect and reality dictates that we must engage with many countries that are neither democratic nor who share our values. In order to stay competitive, to penetrate new markets and in some cases to access important raw materials, there is no question that Canadian companies need to engage the broader world and seek the right balance between profits and corporate social responsibility. For example, should Canadian companies cease to import rare earth minerals from China because of Beijing’s treatment of its religious minorities? Was it right for Talisman Energy to pull out of Sudan in 2003, even if Indian and Chinese oil firms swept in to replace the company? I believe a blanket ban on all Canadian firms operating in “shady” countries is not the answer.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour … 

 

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter