Large corporations should be contributing to the economy

Editor:
It’s time we stopped treating corporations like children. With children, we expect them to obey the rules we set down but know that because of their immaturity, they will stretch those rules and get away with whatever they can. They will steal dad’s car and drink and drive without a licence, and do it past their curfew. They are not yet ready to reflect on how their actions impact their parents and friends. They are focused on self gratification and are still learning to adopt a social conscience.
Too many large corporations have a reputation of thinking only of themselves and their shareholders. They stretch rules to the limit and cannot self regulate. They still need society to set guidelines and to employ large bureaucracies to monitor their behaviour. They are capable of inflicting pain on the community by polluting our air and rivers. They can manufacture products that are dangerous to our well being.
They sometimes underpay employees. At their whim they have left communities to reestablish themselves in more tax-friendly havens.
It is time for corporations to grow up and accept adult responsibility for the role they play in our society.
In this current crisis, the federal government representing Canadian citizens has borrowed $200 billion from our children in order to maintain our usual standard of living. Some of that money will no doubt find its way, with justification, into corporate coffers.
I am asking that large corporations, who command great stores of wealth, contribute an equivalent amount, in cash or in kind, to the local economies in recognition of the role they play as adult members of our community.
Many small towns in Canada have a bank, an insurance company, a drugstore and a supermarket and these companies are ideally located to evaluate the needs of the community which they serve and to effectively deliver prompt aid.
An article in Pivot, a magazine for Canadian Professional Accountants states the case for corporate maturity. In a roundtable, 181 CEOs from America’s most powerful companies affirmed that the essential role of corporations is to serve, not only shareholders but all stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers and the public at large. This about face marks a paradigm shift from shareholder to stakeholder.
It marks a shift from corporate childhood to adult responsibility.
It’s time.
Ted McGovern, CPA
Stayner.