G8 down, but not out, as G20 makes pledges on crisis
If the big headline for April’s G20 Summit (See IU April 2009) was the $1.2 trillion pledged to tackle the financial crisis, this month’s showcase was the G20 itself, as the 20 countries crowned themselves the premier fora on global finance. Next year’s G8 in Canada will in fact be preceded by a G20 meeting, which Ottawa will co-host with 2010 G20 chair Seoul. Earlier this month, Liberal opposition leader Michael Ignatieff went one step further, suggesting that the G8 not bother meeting any more, and calling for a permanent G20 secretariat in Canada.

Between December 1998 and March 1999, in a campaign led by the Halifax Initiative Coalition and that led to a number of Committee and Parliamentary debates (Oct. 16, 1997; Oct 28, 1998; Feb 3, 1999 Part 1 and Part 2), Canadians rallied in support of a Private Member's Motion in the House of Commons, which stated, "that in the opinion of the House, the government should enact a tax on financial transactions in concert with the international community."

A Call to Action
 
A Citizen's Agenda for Reform of the Global Economic System
 
I. INTRODUCTION: Open the Debate
 

Financial crisis a boon for ECAs
While hefty public bailouts of the financial and auto industries have stimulated debate on the role of governments in commercial markets, one form of government subsidy has flown beneath the proverbial radar: export credit. Confronted by an increasingly dire financial crisis, Western governments are using their export credit agencies (ECAs) to boost liquidity and rescue faltering industries. At an extraordinary World Trade Organization meeting last month, participating governments reported a 30% increase in ECA business over the previous 12 months. The WTO called for even greater reliance on public credit to lessen the burden on commercial banks. Shortly afterwards, the OECD announced an agreement with non-members, including Russia and Brazil, to provide markets with publicly-sourced export credit.

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The Hon. David Emerson
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, ON  K1A OG2  

October 10, 2008

Re.: Canadian priorities leading up to the Doha Financing for Development Review.  

Dear Minister Emerson:   

The Halifax Initiative would like to thank John Foster, North-South Institute, for his help in developing these FAQs 

Revised November 2007

How is development normally financed? Why is an initiative on innovative financing necessary? What are the origins of the innovative financing mechanism process? What is the Leading Group, and how is it organized? Who are the members of the leading group? Why isn't Canada a member? Is civil society involved? Who has chaired the leading group? Where will the next meeting be? Who is taking over the Presidency of the group?

What are some of the initiatives to come out of this process, and the individual presidencies? So what have some of the “implemented” measures achieved? What do these initiatives seek to achieve? What else has been discussed? How does this process relate to the Monterrey Financing for Development process? How does it feed into Monterrey/Doha? What can I do?

The Halifax Initiative would like to thank John Foster, North-South Institute, for his help in developing these FAQs

Revised November 2007

The road from Monterrey How is development normally financed? What are the origins of the discussions around financing for development? What happened at Monterrey? What did the Monterrey conference seek to achieve? Who participated? What were the major outcomes? What was the Monterrey consensus? What were some of the other key outcomes?

The Road to Doha What is Doha and how does it work? Who is involved? The UN has held hearings with business and civil society about Financing for Development. What is this all about? What are the themes which the General Assembly FfD Dialogues hopes to address? What do these High Level Dialogues hope to achieve? Was Canada at Monterrey, what role did they play, and how are they involved in Doha? How do I get involved? Does this mean we don’t need to worry about ODA?

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March 7, 2005

Chirac Proposes International Taxes to Fight Poverty
French President Jacques Chirac, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, called on all developed countries to substantially increase aid budgets to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Taxes designed to skim some of the wealth generated by globalization include levies on crossborder financial transactions, taxing aviation and shipping fuel, environmental taxes and air travel charges.