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(Toronto, Ontario, June 8, 2011) Corporate Knights has released the 10th Annual Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada, the definitive annual list of Canada's top corporate citizens.

The leading corporate ranking of Canadian corporate citizenship transparently ranks companies' relative carbon, water, waste, and energy impacts. Other citizenship indicators include pension fund quality, board diversity, ratio of CEO-pay to lowest paid worker, and tax dollar generation, as well as sector specific indicators such as renewable energy investments (for financial companies) and respect for human rights (for mining companies).

The Best Corporate Citizen for 2011 was The Co-operators Group Limited, a Canadian-owned, multi-product insurance and financial services organization with more than $42.4 billion in assets under administration. With strong board diversity, board oversight (with a dedicated sustainability committee) relatively low resource use, an embedded sustainability mandate, and a deep integration of sustainability and climate resilience into its suite of insurance products, The Co-operators Group earned the honour of the top corporate citizen in Canada.

The Corporate Knights Best 50 methodology for grading corporate citizenship, developed with financial support from Industry Canada, has helped raise the rigour and professionalism of what it means to be a good corporate citizen, being recognized by the global initiative, Rate the Raters, as a best practice rating. Corporate Knights defines a good corporate citizen as a company that fulfills its part of the social contract, while innovating solutions to pressing social and environmental challenges of our time.

Corporate Knights' ranking applies a transparent methodology that calibrates important metrics from pension fund health and responsible accounting to executive pay and resource use. Many of these metrics that Corporate Knights has been tracking for years have recently moved to the forefront of the business pages with the crackdown on tax havens and the pension fund crunch.

S&P/TSX 60 statistics

2011 S&P/TSX60 Stats

Per cent carbon productivity disclosure
2010: 42%
2009: 35 % (+20% change)

Per cent energy productivity disclosure:
2010: 30%
2009: 28% (+7.14% change)

Per cent water productivity disclosure:
2010: 20%
2009: 15% (+33.33% change)

Per cent waste productivity disclosure:
2010: 22%
2009: 15% (+46.67% change)

Average ratio of TSX60 companies CEO to lowest paid employee: (2010) 363 times (2009) 334 (+8.7% change)

Number of TSX60 companies who link pay to ESG targets -> 2010: 36 (2009) 26 (+38.36% change)

Number of TSX60 companies with Sustainable Development board committee -> 2010: 38 (2009) 33 (+15.15% change)

Per cent of TSX60 company with women on board of directors -> 2010: 14.61 per cent (2009) 14.49 per cent (+0.82% change)

Per cent of TSX60 company with visible minority and/or Aboriginal on board of directors 2010: 2.92% (2009) 4.06% (-27.96% change)

Total cash tax paid by TSX60 companies in 2010 -> 2010: CAD$ 22,654,798,000

Total tax gap (sum of stat tax minus cash tax) in 2010 is CAD$6,512,782,008; in 2009 ->CAD$ 8,315,729,963.

Average number of injuries and deaths per 1 million of hours worked: 2010: 10 (2009) 8 (+25.63% change)


Corporate Knights examines foreign-based companies with significant operations in Canada in a separate assessment called the Top Foreign Corporate Citizens in Canada.

"The prize of clean capitalism is the space race of the next decade, and the Best 50 Corporate Citizens are the rocket fuel propelling Canada forward to be a more competitive and better society," says Toby Heaps, President of Corporate Knights.

The full methodology and analysis of the Best 50 Corporate Citizens is detailed at http://www.corporateknights.ca/best50 and summarized in the Best 50 2011 issue (Vol. 10.1) of Corporate Knights, found in the Globe and Mail today.

The Best 50 Corporate Citizens 2011

Rank	Company	Province of Head Office
1	The Co-operators Group Limited	ON
2	Mountain Equipment Co-Op	BC
3	Domtar Corporation	QC
4	Loblaw Companies Limited	ON
5	BC Hydro And Power Authority	BC
6	Vancouver City Savings Credit Union	BC
7	Cascades Inc.	QC
8	Enmax	AB
9	Nexen Inc.	AB
10	Enbridge Inc.	AB
11	IAMGOLD Corporation	ON
12	Canadian National Railway Company	QC
13	Catalyst Paper Corporation	BC
14	Hydro One Inc.	ON
15	Encana Corporation	AB
16	Sears Canada Inc.	ON
17	Royal Bank Of Canada	ON
18	Agrium Inc.	AB
19	Sherritt International Corporation	ON
20	Canfor Corporation	BC
21	Cenovus Energy Inc.	AB
22	First Quantum Minerals Ltd.	BC
23	Cameco Corporation	SK
24	Transcontinental Inc.	QC
25	Canada Post Corporation	ON
27	IGM Financial Inc.	MB
26	Talisman Energy Inc.	AB
28	Teck Resources Limited	BC
29	Sun Life Financial Inc.	ON
30	Stantec Inc.	AB
31	The Toronto-Dominion Bank	ON
32	Kinross Gold Corporation	ON
33	Yamana Gold Inc.	ON
34	Suncor Energy Inc.	AB
35	Imperial Oil Limited	AB
36	Mouvement Des Caisses Desjardins	QC
37	Rona Inc.	QC
38	Capital Power Corporation	AB
39	Bombardier Inc.	QC
40	Bank Of Nova Scotia (The)	ON
41	Westport Innovations Inc.	BC
42	Hydro-Quebec	QC
43	Abitibibowater Inc.	QC
44	Transcanada Corporation	AB
45	BCE Inc.	QC
46	Bank Of Montreal	QC
47	Tembec Inc.	QC
48	Ontario Power Generation Inc.	ON
49	Inmet Mining Corporation	ON
50	Telus Corporation	BC

The Top Foreign Corporate Citizens in Canada 2011

ABBOTT LABORATORIES LTD.
ASTRAZENECA CANADA INC.
AVIVA CANADA INC.
AXA CANADA INC.
BEST BUY CANADA LTD.
DEVON ENERGY CORP.
DIRECT ENERGY
DOMTAR CORP.
FUJITSU CANADA INC
HEWLETT-PACKARD (CANADA) CO.
HONDA CANADA INC
HSBC BANK OF CANADA
IBM CANADA
ING BANK OF CANADA
JOHNSON CONTROLS LP
LAFARGE CANADA INC.
L'ORÉAL CANADA INC
NISSAN CANADA INC.
RANDSTAD
SAP CANADA
TOYOTA CANADA INC.
XEROX CORP. INC.

Top Foreign Corporate Citizen Selection criteria: Companies must be listed on the Financial Post 500, and rank among the top 10 per cent of 4,500 global companies according to the Global Sustainability Research Alliance. The Alliance was created to assist the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World project , and is the world's largest sustainability research consortium (formed by Global Currents Investment Management LLC and Phoenix Advisors LLC).

Best 50 Provincial Breakdown

Ontario: 15
Quebec: 12
Alberta: 12
BC: 9
Manitoba: 1
Saskatchewan: 1


To schedule interviews with Toby Heaps, President, contact him directly at 416-274-1432, or Don Huff, 416-972-7404, huffd@ecostrategy.ca

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About Corporate Knights: Founded in 2002, Corporate Knights Inc. is an independent Canadian-based media company focused on promoting and reinforcing sustainable development in Canada.