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Canadian churches launch campaign on CPP and Talisman
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Kairos, the Canadian church social justice coalition, is asking Canadians to write and meet with their MPs to show their concern with the Canada Pension Plan's investment in Talisman Energy. "The Government of Canada, which portrays itself as a champion of human rights at home and abroad, has refused to take any action against Talisman," Kairos says in a recent Action Statement on the issue. "To date, Ottawa has done nothing. Even more appallingly, the Canadian government is actually profiting from Talisman's complicity in human misery. Besides corporate tax from the company, the Canadian government, through the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), holds about $53.7 million worth of Talisman shares." The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board invests CPP premiums that are surplus to current liabilities in the capital markets. As a policy, the CPPIB invests in the major companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which includes Talisman Energy. Kairos is asking Canadians to write and, if possible, to meet with their MPs to discuss this situation. Kairos is suggesting that Canadians make the following requests: 1.That Canada reconsider its Canada Pension Plan investment in Talisman and develop ethical standards to screen future investments in extractive and other companies. 2.That the Canadian government implement existing measures or develop new ones to prevent Canadian companies such as Talisman from profiting from civil conflict in another country. "As a Canadian, do you want your CPP premiums invested in a company that has been linked to massive human injustice and suffering in Sudan?" asks Kairos in its Action Sheet. Talisman is a joint venture partner in a major oil development in Sudan. International human rights agencies maintain that profits from the project are helping to fuel the bloody civil war in Sudan as well as atrocities committed by the Sudan government and paramilitary groups. Kairos is a coalition of Canadian churches, church based agencies and religious organizations dedicated to promoting human rights, justice and peace, human development and solidarity. For more information, see Sudan Action Sheet at www.kairoscanada.org
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