CORE

Advocates are calling on Ottawa to profoundly change the powers of the watchdog who monitors Canadian corporations operating abroad, as the Liberals review how a new ombudsman should take on the job.

Ottawa's corporate-ethics watchdog is set to announce multiple investigations into whether Canadian companies are importing products made through human-rights abuses in China, a move advocates have sought for years.

All representatives of civil society groups and trade unions have resigned from a panel appointed by the Trudeau government to provide advice about a new corporate watchdog, complaining that the government had failed to give the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) the teeth to investigate allegations of overseas human rights abuses against Canadian corporate citizens.

Initially sold as a robust watchdog for Canadian companies abroad, it is not yet clear if the newly-created watchdog will have sufficient power to investigate wrongdoing.