Social investers give low grades to Liberals, Conservatives.

By 
  • October 10, 2008
{mosimage}The Social Investment Organization grades the Liberals and the Conservatives with a D and an F on the issue of transparency for investors in Canada's stock markets.

The SIO gives top marks to the Greens and Bloc Quebecois and places the NDP in the middle. The Greens rate an A+, the Bloc a B+ and the NDP a B-.
The SIO represents investors and investment managers who make environmental and social concerns part of their investment decisions.

The SIO wants the federal and Ontario governments to require pension funds to report to pension holders on environmental, social and governance issues and disclose their voting records and voting policies on shareholder votes. Such a requirement of pension companies would force many stock-market-listed companies into more complete disclosures of their policies on the environment, governance and social issues.

In addition the SIO asked the parties whether they would act on two parliamentary committee reports that recommended tougher rules on Canadian mining companies doing business abroad. The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and Kairos, the Canadian ecumenical social justice organization, have both been campaigning to parliamentary committee recommendations on corporate social responsibility made into law.

A pdf of the party responses to the SIO questionnaire is available here.

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