An 'urgent' call from China
The Canada China Business Council put out an urgent request last week to Canadian business leaders to show up in force for a luncheon today in Ottawa for visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. The two-day visit is described as "sudden" - it was announced in China last Friday that Mr. Yang would make the stop on his way to a UN conference on the global economic crisis in New York later this week.
The June 15 e-mail from CCBC president Peter Harder, labelled "urgent," makes it clear this "is a call to action to Canada's most senior business leaders to be present and visible at this very important event. Our honorary chair, Mr. André Desmarais, will be present, and we expect excellent representation from Canada's senior executives."
Mr. Harder stresses the significance of the luncheon, which he says was requested by the Chinese government. "It will be a wonderful opportunity to showcase your company's support for the re-energizing of the Canada-China relationship over the past few months."
Recent trips to Beijing by Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon and International Trade Minister Stockwell Day were deemed successful efforts to improve bilateral relations. Last month, Ottawa appointed our new ambassador to China, David Mulroney, a former head of the CCBC.
Corporate leaders from Bombardier, Manulife, Bank of Montreal, Research In Motion and Sun Life Financial are expected to turn out for the luncheon. The CCBC is also inviting senior politicians and the premiers who joined the council's trip to China last November.
Who's responsible
Toby Heaps, president and editor of Corporate Knights magazine, which was distributed in The Globe and Mail yesterday, is having a noisy dispute with Maclean's publisher and editor-in-chief Ken Whyte about a ranking of the 50 best corporate citizens in Canada. Corporate Knights is in its eighth year of publishing an annual ranking of firms with the best social responsibility; its "Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada" issue, a signature feature. But in its June 22 issue, Maclean's touted an "exclusive report" of "Canada's 50 best corporate citizens."
Mr. Heaps says Mr. Whyte is poaching his idea. "While we welcome newcomers to the corporate responsibility realm, it's unfortunate that Maclean's seems to have taken a run at our market share by using a trademark that is ... confusing with our distinctive trademark," Mr. Heaps said last week. He challenged Mr. Whyte to a public debate about how to evaluate good corporate citizens. Doesn't look like it's in the cards, however.
"We're not interested in a debate," Mr. Whyte told us. "They're welcome to make as much noise as they want but we're not going to play."
