ABSTRACT
This chapter presents two case analyses of involving multi-stakeholder collaborative processes (MCPs) held in Canada to illustrate these points: the '3R Round Table' and the ' Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics' initiatives. Since then a number of initiatives involving MCPs have brought together a host of social actors to reconcile the complex and competing interests of deregulation and sustainable development. MCPs were even viewed as alternative systems of government, or as co-ordination mechanisms whose activities could take place outside of the spheres of market and state. The partnerships that have been forged between environmentalist non-governmental organisations and businesses through MCPs mark a fundamental paradigm shift in approaches to environmental issues, and are the index of a noteworthy change in the governance of business. MCPs were even viewed as alternative systems of government, or as co-ordination mechanisms whose activities could take place outside of the spheres of market and state.
