Canada’s oil and gas industry can and should be converted to a public-interest industry whose mandate would be to serve the broader public interest, not just the private interests of owners and shareholders.
Corporations and corporate power
OTTAWA—The tentative Buy American deal fails to gain a meaningful exemption for Canadian suppliers from provisions in the U.S. stimulus package while permanently curtailing provincial and municipal procurement sovereignty, says a new analysis of the deal from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
“The agreement is highly unbalanced and provides significantly better access for U.S. suppliers to the Canadian procurement market than for Canadian suppliers to U.S. stimulus projects,” says senior CCPA trade researcher Scott Sinclair.
Canadians may have been hit hard by a worldwide economic recession, but it appears Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs are enjoying a soft landing.
The total average compensation for Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs was $7,300,884 in 2008—a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,305. They pocketed what takes Canadians earning an average income an entire year to make by 1:06 pm January 4—the first working day of the year.
TORONTO—Canadians may have been hit hard by a worldwide economic recession, but it appears Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs are enjoying a soft landing.
A report on executive compensation by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), a progressive think tank, reveals Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs pocketed an average $7.3 million in 2008, the year recession broadsided the nation.
“Canada’s top 100 CEOs earned 174 times more than the average Canadian wage,” says economist Hugh Mackenzie, CCPA Research Associate.
OTTAWA—A new report shows that Canada’s rising National Defence spending is $21.185 billion in 2009-2010, making Canada’s rank 13th highest in the world, and 6th highest among NATO’s 28 members, dollar for dollar.
Defence analyst and author Bill Robinson says the rise in defence spending is an indication of the government’s priorities. “Government spending on National Defence is twenty times that of federal Environment Department spending,” said Robinson. “By comparison, the Department of the Environment was allocated only $1.064 billion.”
EDMONTON – L’incapacité du Canada de jouer un rôle de premier plan dans le domaine du changement climatique international n’est qu’une des nombreuses conséquences négatives de la domination du secteur de l’énergie par les grandes sociétés à but lucratif. Nous devons commencer à explorer d’autres modèles d’affaires pour l’industrie. C’est là un message clé que fait passer un nouveau document de discussion dévoilé aujourd’hui par l’Institut Parkland de l’Alberta en collaboration avec le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives.
Canada’s oil and gas industry creates significant environmental, social, and political problems for Canadians. This is partly due to the nature of the for-profit, private-interest business corporation, which dominates that industry. The business corporation has a mandate to maximize share value and profits, and this translates into boosting consumption and externalizing costs.
EDMONTON—Canada’s inability to play a leadership role at international climate change is just one of many negative consequences of an energy sector that is dominated by large for-profit corporations, and we need to begin exploring alternate business models for the industry. This is a key message of a new discussion paper released today by Alberta’s Parkland Institute in conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Many will have heard Premier Gordon Campbell and his cabinet colleagues talk in glowing terms about public private partnerships (P3s) for major projects like hospitals, highways, bridges and sewage treatment.
Traditionally, governments borrow money for things like hospitals and bridges. They use that money to pay the private sector to design and build the projects. Once built, the facility or infrastructure is wholly owned, operated and maintained by government on behalf of the public.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne recently unveiled Chrysler’s five-year operating plan. That a corporation should develop a strategic plan for the future seemed unsurprising and sensible to the reporters covering his press conference. How else could a large, complex organization function?