As Paul Wolfowitz begins work today (June 1) as the 10th President of the World Bank, 303 civil society groups from 6

March 29, 2005

The Right Honourable Paul Martin
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2

RE: Canadian NGOs Call on Canada to Vote Against the US Nomination for Next World Bank President.

Dear Prime Minister,

We the undersigned organizations find Paul Wolfowitz to be an unsuitable candidate for the next president of the World Bank. We call on the Government of Canada to oppose the U.S. nomination and instruct the Executive Director, Marcel Mass', to vote against Mr. Wolfowitz's nomination.

APR 12, 2005

2005FIN157471

Mr. John Mihevc
Chair
Halifax Initiative Coalition
104-153 Chapel Street
Ottawa, ON KIN 1H5

Dear Mr. Mihevc:

Thank you for your correspondence of March 17, 2005, in which you raised concerns about the U.S. nominee, Dr. Paul Wolfowitz, for the position of President of the World Bank. I appreciate your views.

On March 31, Canada joined the consensus of World Bank shareholders to select Dr. Wolfowitz as the tenth President of the World Bank. Prior to this decision, Canada and other member countries, through their Executive Directors, had discussions with Dr. Wolfowitz on issues related to the Bank's policies, programs and ongoing mission of poverty reduction.

March 17, 2005

The Honourable Ralph Goodale M.P., P.C.,
Minister of Finance
140 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0G5
Via Fax: 995-5176

RE: Canadian NGOs Call for the Government of Canada to Oppose the Nomination of Paul Wolfowitz to the position of President of the World Bank

Dear Minister Goodale,

We are writing to express our strong concern with the nomination by the US government of Paul Wolfowitz to become the next President of the World Bank. We call on the Government of Canada to direct its Executive Director to the World Bank, Marcel Massé to strongly oppose the nomination and to vote against it.

Business as usual in more ways than one: NGOs say World Bank looks set to miss an historic moment to show that it can learn from its mistakes

Ottawa -  As World Bank staff return to work for the second day under the chilling new terrorist alert in the U.S., all efforts are being made to ensure that their work carries forward as it normally would. But NGOs are concerned that the World Bank will today decide to carry on with “business as usual” in its oil, gas and mining operations even though a World Bank commissioned report called for significant changes to how the Bank invests in mining and oil projects.

Questioning the value of the World Bank: Can it change?

Submitted to Department of Finance and CIDA before World Bank discussions at Fall 2003 meetings on Enhancing Voice an

NGOs respond to G8 Action Plan for Africa
NGOs are looking for commitments and follow-through in the following areas:
Bring NEPAD Home for Democratic Debate

MEDIA ADVISORY
November 8, 2001
Leaders against World Bank and IMF policies converge in Ottawa mid-November.
Ottawa – Civil society leaders from around the world who are active proposing alternatives to the World Bank and IMF approach to global issues will be in Ottawa to protest the IMF and World Bank meetings of November 17th and 18th. 

Ottawa Citizen, April 22 2000, A15
 
A day after the protests in Washington D.C., a senior Canadian official at the International Monetary Fund told me and the groups of activists that I was with, that he was not quite sure why we had protested. He felt the demonstrations lacked a coherent message and therefore, the institutions, both the IMF and the World Bank, did not know what to make of the mobilization.