In Canada, CASA is being undertaken by a Steering Committee of non-governmental organizations from a num

Click here for pdf

Submitted as part of EDC's consultations on the environment, this report makes a case for placing EDC under the provisions of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Abstract

Hassan Bougrine
Department of Economics
Laurentian University
Sudbury, Ontario

REPORT FROM MEETING WITH NATIONAL FARMERS UNION MEMBERS

Background

Since the mid 1970s the realized net income of Canadian farms have fallen consistently. The farm crisis that dominated headlines a few months ago may have been triggered by environmental conditions but statistical information clearly indicates it is part of an ongoing trend that has seen net income per farm (in 1998 $) fall from $50,000 in 1975 to -$2,000 in 1999. Clearly this is part of an ongoing trend that the AFB must address in dramatic fashion lest we see the complete annihilation of the Canadian family farm and with it, the rural communities on which much of Canada was built.

Click here for full report i

Prepared by the NGO Working Group on the Export Development Corporation, a project of the Halifax Initiative

The Canadian Export Development Corporation (EDC) is the main source of publicly supported export financing in Canada, designed to complement the private financial sector wherever possible. A federal Crown corporation, EDC provides Canadian exporters with financing products to help their customers, and with commercial and political risk insurance, particularly for higher-risk and emerging markets. In 1998, EDC worked with 4,183 customers in 200 countries, helping Canadian companies to generate nearly $35 billion in sales and foreign investments.

Click here for pdf

The Tobin-Type Tax - Debunking the Myths

(This article in Spanish is on this link)

Currency transactions taxes such as the Tobin-type tax 1 are often dismissed by critics before all the arguments have been heard. They view the tax as too difficult to adopt and too easy to avoid. Much criticism is ill-informed or designed to stifle debate. Here are the most common myths and our response to them:

A TOBIN-TYPE TAX WILL HIT THE POOR
The tax is a progressive one, designed to target only those profiting from destabilising currency speculation. The poor don't flip millions of dollars a day on currency and bond markets, the world's biggest banks and investment firms do. This tax will hit them.

A Feasible Foreign Exchange Transactions Tax

Rodney Schmidt*
Research Associate
North-South Institute
55 Murray Street, Suite 200
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1N 5M3
Fax: (613) 241-7435

Program Advisor
Vietnam Economic and Environment Management
International Development Research Centre
40 Nguyen Van Ngoc
Hanoi, Vietnam
Fax: (84-4) 766-0469
E-mail: veem@hn.vnn.vn