Copyright Law

Conference Board of Canada CEO Speaks Out

By DrewWilson

Battered by a publicity backlash that they may not have anticipated, the CEO of the Conference Board of Canada offered some interesting comments about the IP reports. While there were comments that talked about how this is the first time the Board has ever recalled a report, another interesting comment was that they (the reports) didn’t intend to be siding with any particular interest group.

It all started with a blog posting that accused the Conference Board of Canada of plagiarism. From there, it may have been quite a wild ride for some of the employees at the Conference Board of Canada. After revelations that the report ignored independent research and the fact that the Board stood by their reports, the Board then recalled the reports citing that they didn’t follow the strict guidelines the Board had set out. Now, one media outlet has managed to get an official comment from the Boards CEO, Anne Golden.

Obviously, many who follow this story know that the Conference Board of Canada’s reputation has taken a hit over the reports. While the reports, themselves, had a bad reputation for catering to one interest group (the copyright industry), the recall of the reports has made damage control easier. The issue of an ignored report came up to which she had this to say:

?You commission reports and sometimes they disappoint you,? she says. ?In general, it is not obligatory to include every single report one looks at in your own report.?

She stressed that an internal review would be done on the matter. Who knows, maybe the internal review will be better than internal reviews conducted by the RCMP. After all, the news story had the following:

The Conference Board can publish up to 150 reports a year, Golden says. In her eight years as CEO, this is the first report that has ever been recalled.

So really, this is a first for the Conference Board of Canada. The CEO also said that she didn’t believe there was any attempt to respond to specific pressure or any academic dishonesty.

Still, if this wasn’t a response to any specific kind of pressure, then what would the report look like if it was? That was certainly unclear at the time of the original posting of this response from the Board.

Have a tip? Want to contact the author? You can do so by sending a PM via the forums or via e-mail at drew@zeropaid.com.

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on June 04, 2009 (boomark / email).