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EDC: Review finds inadequate disclosure practices.....

PostPosted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 11:31 am
by Oscar
Federal review of Export Development Canada finds inadequate disclosure practices

[ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/ ... practices/ ]

Matthew McClearn Published July 1, 2019 Updated July 2, 2019

A federal review of Export Development Canada has exposed serious shortcomings at the Crown corporation, noting its disclosure practices fall far short of other financial institutions, and that the agency is not legally obligated to consider the environmental or human-rights impact of the financial support it provides to exporters.

The agency, which gives loans, credit insurance and other financial services to Canadian exporters, must undergo a review of its enabling legislation (the Export Development Act) every 10 years. A crucial part of the federal government’s efforts to promote international trade, the EDC has been mired in controversy in recent years over multimillion-dollar loans to international companies that were embroiled in corruption scandals.

Begun last summer, the latest review concluded that the EDC’s public reporting on the performance of its credit insurance operations does not meet requirements imposed on the private sector even though it borrows using the federal government’s credit rating. The EDC’s non-financial disclosures (for example, environmental and social effects of a proposed transaction) were also deemed inferior to those of other export credit agencies such as the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and international institutions such as the World Bank.

The findings underscore concerns uncovered in a recent Globe and Mail investigation. The Globe reported that the EDC’s client roster includes companies that have faced allegations concerning corruption, human-rights violations and environmental abuses; the federal agency has demonstrated a tendency to continue supporting such companies after other financial institutions have sanctioned them or cut them loose. Critics have also raised concerns about transparency and federal oversight of the Crown corporation.

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Re: EDC: Review finds inadequate disclosure practices.....

PostPosted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 7:14 am
by Oscar
COMMENT: CPPIB (posted with permission)
From: KEN COLLIER - July 6, 2019

In 1999, CPP shifted from a contributions-based pension program to add an investment base that would expand through time.

During that 20 years, the focus moved to heavy dependency on capitalist logic. Beside the moral and ethical issues raised below, it engages all CPP participants (almost all of us) into a mind-set that sees pensions riding on market performance, not any social obligation to make sure seniors and other beneficiaries have enough to live on. We all, especially beneficiaries, are recruited into capitalist thinking about our retirement or certain disability income riding on stock market risk rather than any right to a secure living income. The influence of the Chilean pension model, founded on neo-liberal ideology, was certainly present when CPP made this change. If you search "CPP investments" or similar keywords, you will see the intense interest the Fraser Institute has in CPPIB investments and where they lead. So do other research bodies like CD Howe Institute, Heritage, etc.

CPP is set beside OAS and GIS to provide for those on low income. These are tax-revenue-based programs, not contribution-based. Benefits are decided at the most fundamental level on political decisions by elected parliament, though for a long time, parliament decided to deputize their administrations to adjust benefits based loosely on COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). Loosely, since they gradually fall behind actual increases in those costs.

Incidentally, MPs, the RCMP, the military and certain others get guaranteed pensions not based on the stock market.


Ken Collier,
Mission, BC
kcollier@shaw.ca