Governance

Richard Leblanc – April 9, 2012

If the CEO of SNC-Lavalin allegedly overrode his own CFO and breached the company’s code of ethics in authorizing $56 million of questionable payments to undisclosed agents that the RCMP are now investigating, did the board of directors of SNC-Lavalin have a role to play?

If RBC made 'material false statements' in connection with non-arms length trades, which is being alleged by a U.S. regulator, did the board of directors of RBC have a role to play?

Kathryn May – February 4, 2012

Rob Walsh sat ringside in Parliament for 20 years and watched a paradox unfold. Even as members of Parliament saw a historic reassertion of their ancient parliamentary privileges, increasingly strident partisan politics steadily eroded the rules and respect for the institution that is supposed to keep the government’s power in check.

As the House of Commons’ top legal adviser, he counselled MPs through an unprecedented period in Canada’s history as committees flexed their muscles and aggressively invoked their parliamentary privilege to see papers and records and call witnesses so they could get to the bottom of issues and hold the government to account.

August 2, 2010

Arlington, VA – Fear of retaliation for speaking up about ethical violations in the workplace not only affects whether workers are willing to report wrongdoing to management, it drives the level of misconduct itself, according to a new study released today by the Ethics Resource Center.

Employees who report misconduct in a company with zero tolerance for retaliation experience it at a strikingly lower rate than workers at companies with weak ethical environments (4 percent versus 25 percent), the study found. And victims of retaliation trust the company’s leaders less, feel less optimistic about the company’s financial future, tend to think the head of the company is overpaid and look to quit the company sooner.