Analysis of the Canadian national corporate social responsibility strategy: Insights and implications

Abstract Incidences of corporate–community conflict and human rights violation associated with the activities of Canadian extractive companies (CECs) abroad have led to debates at home about the social responsibility of CECs overseas and the role of the Canadian government in corporate social responsibility (CSR). In response to these debates, the Canadian government launched the Canadian national CSR strategy to steer the CSR agenda of CECs. This paper questions and problematizes governmental discourses within the national strategies as a basis for contributing to the debate on the role of government in CSR. We show that the Canadian national CSR strategy embodies the same neoliberal tendencies as the European governmental approach to CSR. However, while the Canadian government's approach to CSR emerged with an emphasis on self‐regulation, it has now morphed into a form of enforced self‐regulation. Hence, the Canadian government adopts both collaborative and confrontation strategies in its efforts to make self‐regulation effective.