Where is corporate responsibility?

What are the reasons people are becoming disillusioned with the corporate influence in our government? There is daily evidence of corporate irresponsibility. The Supreme Court recently decided that banks and oil corporations must pay for cleanup of damage from drilling activity.

Often the politicians and selfinterested individuals display a narrow view of corporate behaviour. Yes, they hire people to do their work, providing jobs. Should we not take a wider view? Corporations are only interested in profits. (That is the law’s narrow definition of their purpose.) Corporations are reluctant to see their responsibility to the health of employees and the environment. Do we as members of our society share responsibility for business behaviour? Do we allow politicians and media to talk only in fuzzy rhetorical terms?

My dissatisfaction with Harper’s cabinet (which included Kenney, now leader of the UPC) was their deliberate disregard for our environmental concerns. Mr. Kenney was part of the team that wiped out Canada’s environmental protection regulations; that destroyed years of research records on rivers, lakes and ocean waters. Who does he represent in these matters? Surveys have shown 80 per cent of Canadians are supportive of environmental protection. Who does he represent? Would he insist on tarsands cleanup and protect our rivers and lakes from industrial waste? So far he has shown he represents foreign shareholder corporate interest over workers and the environment. For my mind he is a little too dodgy when asked directly about climate and subsidy concerns.

Tell us, Mr. Kenny, do you represent Koch Enterprises’ interests in the tarsands? Who are the biggest donors to the UPC party funds? Financial transparency is lacking in your political party; as in the dark money support for the 125 “think tanks” the Kochs support in the U.S. What are they afraid of — democracy?

Don Ryane

Lethbridge