Sheri Meyerhoffer

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.

A veteran Liberal backbencher took a Liberal cabinet minister to task on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, for failing to give real teeth to a new watchdog who is supposed to investigate human rights abuses by Canadian companies operating abroad.

The federal government is giving its new watchdog on international corporate responsibility unprecedented power to hear complaints from Canadian companies that think they've been unfairly targeted by abuse allegations.