For pdf, click here.

November 8, 2005

Report Card Flunks Crown Corp on Transparency

Ottawa, October 25, 2004 – A Canadian coalition of groups hammered Export Development Canada (EDC) for poor transparency on the most controversial and risky projects it funds, the day before the Auditor General is set to release a report on the environmental and disclosure policies of the crown corporation.

“Three years ago the Auditor General identified public consultation and disclosure of environmental information as being essential to a credible review process”, said Fraser Reilly-King, Coordinator of the NGO Working Group on EDC, the coalition that released the report.

“Yet EDC still has no requirements to do either, and has not released a single environmental impact assessment for the potentially most harmful projects. Without greater transparency, EDC’s environmental review lacks credibility.”

For pdf, click here.

EDC’s Commitments to the Environment

“I have asked the Auditor General to undertake an audit two years after a revised framework has been adopted, to ensure that EDC has implemented the recommended changes in its design and operation.”

Pierre Pettigrew, Press Release, June 26, 2001
 
Following a two year review by Parliament of the Export Development Act (EDA) and Export Development Canada (EDC), Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of International Trade, held a press conference in June 2001 to highlight what changes EDC would make to its policies.

The press release noted the government commitment to, among other things:

    * Take account of benefits to Canada and Canada’s international obligations in the area of human rights, core labour standards, and the environment

MEDIA RELEASE
Canada behind leaders in Export Credit Agency reform EDC continues to operate in secret
For immediate release.
Ottawa, March 31, 2002. Export Development Canada (EDC), Canada's export credit agency, released environmental and disclosure practices yesterday that fall far behind the leaders in export credit agency reform.

Comments and critiques of EDC’s Environmental Review Directive and recommendations by the Working Group - March 1, 2002

MEDIA RELEASE
EXPORT DEVELOPMENT CANADA’S NEW ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY WILL NOT STOP IT FROM FINANCING ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
NGO Coalition calls for policy to be re-drafted following a public comment period
For immediate release

NGO Working Group
on the Export Development Corporation
A working group of the Halifax Initiative

Background paper
for the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade Hearings on Bill C-31 on the Export Development Act

October 15, 2001

The NGO Working Group on the Export Development Corporation is a coalition of 17 Canadian non-governmental organisations concerned about the social, human and environmental impacts of export credit agencies. The NGO Working Group has been participating fully in the legislative process on the Export Development Act since 1999, including the SCFAIT hearings in 1999, the public consultations on the EDC’s disclosure policy and environmental review framework, and the international campaign to reform export credit agencies which has focused on the OECD’s Export Credit Guarantees process.