Issued to coincide with the Auditor General's review of EDC's environmental policy, this Report Card grades EDC on the progress they have made over the past two years in implementing their disclosure, environment and compliance policies. The Report Card acknowledges the improvements that EDC has made on the environment, but flunks the Crown Corporation on transparency.

Executive Summary available here in pdf

Full Report available here in pdf

Halifax Initiative's new paper, "Who's Minding the Store? Legislator Oversight of the Bretton Woods Institutions" examines to what extent national legislatures maintain democratic oversight of the World Bank and IMF. The survey reveals that legislators are inadequately aware, unevenly informed and largely not consulted on issues related to the institutions. The democratic link to bind citizens and institutional decision-makers is therefore fragile, at best.

Executive Summary available here in pdf

Full Report available here in pdf

The Halifax Initiative Coalition and the Canadian Council for International Co-operation have co-authored the report "At the Table or in the Kitchen: CIDA's New Aid Strategies, Developing Country Ownership and Donor Conditionality," which seeks to understand the implications of three converging elements in CIDA's implementation of its 2002 policy the agency's reliance on PRSPs to define country priorities for poverty reduction, its support for program based approaches to deliver increasing aid budgets for poverty reduction, and its increased coordination with the World Bank and other major donors in these PBAs.

Click here for pdf of the full report

By Asad Ismi

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are the two most powerful institutions in global trade and finance. Since 1980, the United States government which dominates both bodies has used them to economically subjugate the developing world. The World Bank and the IMF have forced Third World countries to open their economies to Western penetration and increase exports of primary goods to wealthy nations. These steps amongst others have multiplied profits for Western multinational corporations while subjecting Third World countries to horrendous levels of poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, illiteracy and economic decline. The region worst affected has been Africa.

For pdf click here

A Multistakeholder meeting on "Risk, Responsibility and Human Rights: Assessing the Human Rights Impacts of Trade and Project Finance" was organized by the NGO Working Group on EDC in May 2004. A Discussion paper was prepared for the meeting looking at how ECAs and other International Finance Institutions take (or don't take) human rights into account. It made a number of suggestions as to how to mainstream human rights into the project cycle, including a proposal for a human rights impact assessment, and commensurate mechanisms within IFIs.

The Final Report provides the minutes from the meeting, including the presentations made by various speakers, discussion sessions, and a summary of the two day event.

Un aperçu général des présentations faites par divers conférenciers et du contenu des séances de discussion est disponible en français, de même qu’un résumé des conclusions du colloque.

October 27, 2003

Mr. A. Ian Gillespie
President and CEO
Export Development Canada
151 O’Connor street,
Ottawa, ON   K1A 1K3

The Hon. Pierre Pettigrew
Minister of International Trade
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
125 Sussex Drive, Tower B, 5th Floor
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0G2

Re.: Draft OECD recommendation on Common Approaches on Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits: 2003 Review – Revised version 1

Dear Mr. Gillespie and Minister Pettigrew:

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to comment on the ‘Common Approaches on Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits: 2003 Review – Revised version 1’ (Rev. 1).

Where the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative for debt cancellation is failing.

The HIPC Initiative debt relief program does not achieve its main objective: a permanent exit from the burden of debt. The international community's main debt relief effort has serious problems in too many important aspects:

Click here for pdf

Significantly destructive projects that violate host country law, international environmental standards and international human rights and labor laws continue to be considered and supported by ECAs. "Race to the Bottom, Take II: An Assessment of Sustainable Development Achievements of ECA-Supported Projects Two Years After OECD Common Approaches Rev 6" presents a civil society proposal for reforming the OECD Common Approaches on Environment and supports the proposal with nine case studies of ECA-backed projects from all over the world.

The projects include the Aracruz Pulp and Paper Factory in Brazil, the BTC pipeline in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, the Bujagili dam in Uganda, the Camisea oil and gas project in Peru, the Cernavoda 2 Nuclear Reactor in Romania, the Sakhalin II oil and gas project in the Russian Far East, the Sepon Gold and Copper mine in Lao, the Tehri dam in India.

The IMF, World Bank, and the Planned Failures of Global Capitalism - edited by The 50 Years is Enough Network (Book - July 2003)

This book provides an introduction to a wide range of issues on the World Bank and IMF, including on the institutions themselves, and privatization, trade, land reform, microcredit and debt. The Halifax Initiative was one of many organizations to contribute to the book.

Suggested price: $6.00 minimum including postage.

Mail us a cheque made out to Halifax Initiative and we'll mail you a copy.

Halifax Initiative
153 rue Chapel St., Suite 104,
Ottawa, ON K1N 1H5
CANADA