Critics warn of an “enormous transparency gap” surrounding tens of billions of dollars in emergency aid given to businesses during the pandemic. To close that gap, legislation that hinders full public disclosure should be amended.
Communities devastated by the Hidroituango dam in Colombia continue to seek accountability from the Canadian government, which financed the project through its export bank. In this letter, we ask the trade minister to ensure that the bank makes reparations and no longer supports such damaging projects.
Canada has become the second-largest public financier of fossil fuels in the G20 due to the business carried out by its export bank. New research commissioned by Above Ground and Oil Change International identifies policy and legal reforms needed to reverse the trend and redirect the bank’s resources into low-carbon solutions.
It’s time to make Canada’s export credit agency transparent and accountable for its impacts on people and the planet.
Last week EDC announced that a review of its support for an SNC-Lavalin project in Angola cleared its staff of any wrongdoing. Yet the review process raises more questions than it answers.
In this letter to The Hill Times, we question Export Development Canada’s claim that it’s improving the social performance of companies it supports by “leveraging its financial relationship,” and call for legal reforms to ensure accountability.
Canada’s Export Development Act is under review. In this submission to the government, Above Ground and civil society groups from across Canada call for legal reforms to bolster the accountability and transparency of Export Development Canada.
In this submission to the federal government, we call for reforms to the Export Development Act to prohibit Export Development Canada from supporting fossil fuel companies and projects.
Above Ground and sixteen other civil society groups are calling for improvements in accountability and transparency at Export Development Canada as the government reviews the agency’s governing legislation.
Above Ground works to ensure that companies based in Canada or supported by the Canadian state respect human rights and the environment worldwide. It is a project of MakeWay, a national charity that builds partnerships and solutions to help nature and communities thrive together.
Above Ground c/o MakeWay
400-163 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H5
438-992-5163
