CSOs push for Common Approaches revamp
Members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are currently reviewing a 2007 Council Recommendation regarding export credit agency (ECA) operations. The Recommendation on Common Approaches on the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits (Common Approaches) is a “gentlemen’s agreement” that seeks to establish a level playing field regarding ECA environmental practice. CSOs argue that the Recommendation’s impact is undermined by the lack of effective accountability mechanisms to ensure consistent and effective application by member governments.

Corporate Accountability Hearings Heat Up
Things were hopping this month in Parliamentary hearings on Bill-300, An Act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries (see IU February 2009). The Bill was presented before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development by MP John McKay on May 25. This month Committee members heard riveting testimony from diverse witnesses (see JUST THE FACTS). Speakers included: Romina Picolotti, former Secretary of the Environment for Argentina and winner of the prestigious Sophie Prize for environment and sustainable development; Stephen Hunt, former mine worker and current Director at the United Steelworkers union; Marketa Evans, the federal government’s new Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor; and mining companies Barrick Gold, Goldcorp and Kinross.

Since 2005, the Halifax Initiative Coalition has produced an annual Report Card on the Department of Finance's Annual Report to Parliament on the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act - namely on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Past Report Cards have found that Finance's Reports provide some good background information on the history, mandate and operations of the institutions. However, they fall short on providing the qualitative and quantitative information necessary to provide Canadians with an adequate picture of Canada's relations with the Bank and the Fund, and how our participation within these institutions is achieving our development and foreign policy goals. As this report is, effectively, the only means by which Parliament and the public is officially informed of Canada's relations with these institutions, the lack of information creates a serious gap in public accountability and awareness.

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."

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PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

TAX ON FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS