Letter to PM Re: Financing for Development Conference - March 14, 2002

The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons
Centre Block, 309-S
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

March 14, 2002

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing to you, as representatives of Canadian non-governmental organizations, to express our dismay at the proposed outcomes of the UN Financing for Development process and Canada’s role in the negotiations leading to it. We call urgently for renewed leadership on the road to Kananaskis.

Letter to the Prime Minister Re: Cernavoda 2 - March 5, 2002

March 5th, 2002

The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien
Prime Minister
Government of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada       K1A 0A2
(613) 941-6900

Subject: Cernavoda 2 Nuclear Power Plant project in Romania, EDC export credit approval

Dear Prime Minister Chrétien,

We are writing you to express our deep concern about the possibility that Export Development Canada (EDC) will approve $390 million ($250 million US) in financing for the completion of the second CANDU reactor of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant (C2) in Romania.

Letter to James Wolfensohn Re: World Bank Extractive Industry Review - October 8, 2001

October 8, 2001

Mr. James Wolfensohn
President
World Bank Group
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20433

Dear President Wolfensohn:

We write to you today, regarding your commitment to an independent review of  the World Bank Group's support of extractive industries. In your statements in Prague you offered that the Bank Group would engage in a serious analysis  of the pros and cons of these industries, similar to the World Commission on Dams (WCD).

Working Group response to draft disclosure policy - June 29, 2001

June 29, 2001
 
Response to the Export Development Corporation’s Draft Disclosure Policy
 
by the NGO Working Group on the Export Development Corporation a working group of the Halifax Initiative
 
The NGO Working Group on the Export Development Corporation (WG) is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organisations concerned about the social, human and environmental impacts of export credit agencies. The Working Group promotes adherence by export credit agencies, especially Canada’s Export Development Corporation, to internationally accepted standards regarding human rights, the environment and sustainable development. The Working Group is hosted by the Halifax Initiative Coalition.
 

Letter to Finance Minister Martin Re: Debt Moratorium - February 8, 2001

February 8, 2001

Hon. Paul Martin, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Finance House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6

Dear Minister Martin:

On behalf of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative and the Halifax Initiative Coalition, we wish to congratulate you on your decision to place a moratorium on the debt servicing re-quirements of eleven of the world's most heavily indebted poor countries. We believe that this measure, in the spirit of Jubilee, is a welcome contribution to ending the Third World debt crisis. Over the past two years Canada's leadership has played no small part in similar initia-tives by the UK, the US and France. Your initiative indicates to us a willingness to hear the concerns and arguments that we have expressed to you in person and through the petitions and letters of hundreds of thousands of Canadians who believe that it is time to give the poorest countries a new beginning.

Letter to Ecuadorian President Noboa Re: Impact of IMF and WB structural adjustment programs - Feburary 7, 2001

7 February 2001

President Gustavo NoboaPalacio de Gobierno
García Moreno 1043
Quito
Ecuador

Dear President Noboa:

We write to you as representatives of civil-society organizations concernedabout the impact of IMF- and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programs around the world. We are alarmed by reports of violent suppression by your government of the legitimate public protests against the most recently implemented adjustment program in Ecuador. We urge you to cease this repression and to launch a national dialogue to find lasting solutions to the pressing economic and social problems confronting your country.

Letter on Tibet project to Terrie O'Leary, Executive Director for Canada at the World Bank Re: Qinghai component of SAP - July 12, 2000

Terrie O’Leary
Executive Director for Canada
World Bank
1818 H Street
Washington D.C.

12 July, 2000

Dear Ms. O’Leary,

I am writing to express our pleasure that the Board of Directors of the World Bank has cancelled its support for the Qinghai component of the Western China Poverty Reduction Project. This cancellation sends a much needed signal, following the approval of the Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline project, that the Board will work to ensure that the World Bank accountability mechanisms are used to screen out projects that cannot meet even its own participatory, sustainable development standards.

Letter to Terrie O'Leary RE: World Bank to support Shell's activities in Nigeria - June 4, 2000

Terrie O' Leary
Executive Director for Canada
World Bank Group
1818 H St. NW
Washington, DC  20433
June 4, 2000

Dear Ms. O' Leary,

We are writing to express our serious concerns related to a proposed IFC investment, the Niger Delta Contractor Revolving Credit Facility, and to urge you to vote against this project.  This project involves IFC and the Shell Petroleum Development Company teaming up to provide credit to Nigerian contractors who are providing services to Shell.

Letter to Terrie O'Leary, Executive Director for Canada, World Bank

Terrie O'Leary
Executive Director for Canada
World Bank, Room D12081
701 19th Street
Washington, DC, 20433

May 20, 2000

Dear Ms. O. Leary,

First, on behalf of the Halifax Initiative Coalition and our international allies, thank-you very much for meeting with us, following the Spring meetings. We appreciate every opportunity to exchange views on issues with you.

I am writing today to formally express our concerns over the proposed Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline project, due for Board consideration on Tuesday, May 23rd. As you know, Directors have been asked to request that the Board be given one more month to review issues and documents related to this project.

Letter to Trade Minister Re: EDC - May 19, 2000

May 19, 2000

The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew
Minister for International Trade

Dear Minister Pettigrew:

The federal government is considering whether changes should be made in the way that the Export Development Corporation (EDC) operates, a Canadian taxpayer-supported agency, assists Canadian business interests abroad. The choices that the federal government makes about how EDC operates will have significant social and environmental consequences.

As a Crown corporation, EDC pays no taxes, enjoys limited liability, and its credit is backed by the Canadian government. Yet it operates largely in secret. Unlike other government agencies, EDC is not subject to the Access to Information Act, and it keeps the projects it funds a secret. It has no binding standards requiring its projects to adhere to well-accepted social, environmental, labour or human rights standards.

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