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.

February 28, 2005

Indigenous Peoples Coordinator
Mailstop MC5-523
World Bank
1818 H Street
NW Washington DC 20433 USA
Email: indigenouspeoples@worldbank.org

RE: Comments on Revised Draft Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (Revised Draft OP 4.10)

Dear Indigenous Peoples Coordinator,

Please find below our comments on the Draft Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (Revised Draft OP 4.10).

We the undersigned Canadian organizations and representatives are writing to highlight the need for the World Bank to strengthen its draft OP 4.10 in order to ensure that the policy sufficiently meets international standards and guarantees on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

In our opinion, for the operational policy to be seen to be credible and effective it must contain mandatory provisions that:

2005 Federal Budget
On February 23 Finance Minister Ralph Goodale released the government's Federal Budget. The budget contained several pieces of information relating to the International Financial Institutions and international development assistance. In general, the budget locked in the government's commitment from the 2002 UN Conference on Financing for Development to increase Canada's aid budget by 8% per year up to 2010. The budget confirmed a number of initiatives that were announced in advance of the budget release relating to the IFIs, including a 40% increase in Canada's contribution to the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) and a multilateral debt-servicing package.

January 13, 2005.

Calling for a "Made in Canada" Proposal Percent Debt Cancellation
By Michael Bassett

This weekend Finance Minister Ralph Goodale will join his counterparts from 20 developed, emerging and developing countries at the regular G20 Finance Ministers meeting. Prime Minister Paul Martin created this grouping of countries in 1999. It stands as an example of the Canadian leadership on the international stage that Mr. Martin has often spoken of, but little delivered since becoming Prime Minister last year.

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