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What's New

• Monthly Issue Update - July 30, 2008 - 2008/07/30
  Every month, the Halifax Initiative produces a monthly update on various issues related to the international financial system and its institutions. This month: *Business and human rights - protect, respect and remedy *World Bank gets failing grade on environment *TB or not TB – that is the question (for IMF policies) *Notice Board, new publications and upcoming events
  *JUST THE FACTS: The G8 is dead! Long live the G13?
• Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) Submission regarding the April 2008 Report of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights - 2008/07/24
  This submission provides feedback regarding the final report to the first part of the Special Representative's mandate.
• Policy Brief: Canada at the World Bank and IMF – Watching from the sidelines? - July 2008 - 2008/07/22
  In 2007, Finance Canada substantially improved both the content and format of its annual "Report on Operations under the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act". Now that the government has finally disclosed its positions on issues, and its priorities looking forward, HI is finally in a position to critique some of the issues covered in these reports. This policy brief addresses some of the most important issues covered in the report, most of which have been a traditional focus of our work.
• Policy Brief: Implications of the “better aid bill” for the RDBs - July 2008 - 2008/07/14
  On May 29, Bill C-293 or the “better aid bill”, received royal assent, now legally requiring Canadian official development assistance (ODA) to contribute to poverty reduction, take into account the perspectives of the poor, and be consistent with international human rights standards (see our "Issue Update" for more). The Canadian International Development Agency and Foreign Affairs Canada, among others, are in the process of developing plans on how to implement the Bill in practice. These comments are intended to help CIDA in its interpretation of the Bill for the various international financial institutions (IFIs) for which it is the lead agency.
• Press Responses: July 9, 2008 - 2008/07/09
  World Bank’s CSR Praise Met with Cynicism in Light of Gov’t Stalling Letter to the Editor - Embassy, July 9, 2008
• Press Responses: July 9, 2008 - 2008/07/09
  EDC Gives Nod to Human Rights Considerations - But the Jury is still out on whether the Crown Corporation has gone far enough.

  by Lee Berthiaume, Embassy Newspaper

• Halifax Initiative Submission to the 2008 Review of the Export Development Act - 2008/07/02
  The Export Development Act, which came into force in 1969, established Export Development Canada and continues to govern its operations.  Section 25...
• Monthly Issue Update - June 30, 2008 - 2008/06/30
  Every month, the Halifax Initiative produces a monthly update on various issues related to the international financial system and its institutions. This month: *EDC in the spotlight – beyond responsible to accountable *Canada at the heart of mining conflict in the Americas *IMF watchdog tackles broader accountability debate *Notice Board, new publications and upcoming events
  
  *JUST THE FACTS: Export Development Canada’s legislative review – what’s at stake?
• Press Responses: June 27, 2008 - 2008/06/27
  The Kindness of Corporations - Globe and Mail, Report on Business
• Policy Brief: Implications of the "better aid bill" for the BWIs and EBRD - June 2008 - 2008/06/24
  On May 29, Bill C-293 or the “better aid bill”, received royal assent, now legally requiring Canadian official development assistance (ODA) to contribute to poverty reduction, take into account the perspectives of the poor, and be consistent with international human rights standards(see our "Issue Update" for more). Finance Canada, among others, is in the process of developing plans on how to implement the Bill in practice. These comments are intended to help Finance Canada in its interpretation of the Bill for the various international financial institutions (IFIs) for which it is the lead agency.
• The Invisible Hand - How the IMF undermines health systems in developing countries - 2008/06/13
  This powerpoint presentation was made by Paul Jensen, Global Research Coordinator with the Results Educational Fund, at the Halifax Initiative member's meeting and workshop. It explains how the IMF puts in place policies that essentially fix the size of government's budgets and determine how much of that budget they can dedicate towards their own national development priorities.
• Letter to Minister Flaherty re cancelling Haiti's bi-lateral and multi-lateral debt - 2008/06/11
  This letter from 28 groups urges all G8 Governments, as officials head to Japan for the G8 Finance Minister's meeting, to support immediate multilateral and bilateral debt cancellation for Haiti or a moratorium on all debt service payments until such a time as the debt is cancelled.