World Bank, International Monetary Fund write off some debts

Recieved July 8, 2005

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

Dear Mr. Mihevc:

As Minister of International Cooperation, I am pleased to respond to your letter to the Prime Minister, concerning Canada's international assistance efforts.

Financial taxes are complex matters, especially when they are meant to generate additional revenues for development and not, like past proposals such as the Tobin tax, to reduce market volatility. This is why my colleague, the Honourable Ralph E. Goodale, Minister of Finance, and I requested, at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings last October, that their staff conduct technical studies on the potential impact of various innovative financing proposals.

April 8, 2005

2005FIN153718

Mr. John Mihevc and co-signatories
Chair
Halifax initiative Coalition
104-153 Chapel Street
Ottawa, ON KIN 1H5

Dear Mr. Mihevc and co-signatories:

Thank you for your correspondence of January 28, 2005 regarding debt relief, additional financing and other development issues. I apologize for the delay of my reply.

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.

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

Follow-up brief to MPs who attended a Parliament Hill discussion on privatization

Commonwealth Foundation
Brunei Darasalaam
July 22nd, 2003

The Role of IFIs
Pamela Foster
Halifax Initiative Coalition

I may have been asked to give this talk as I, among our Commonwealth colleagues, sit closest to Washington. As there is so much experience in the room in addressing issues of the World Bank and the IMF[1], I will merely start a list of all the ways that the IFIs are implicated in the relentless drive towards privatization of public assets.

First, I would like to quickly share two contextual comments regarding this push towards privatization. It must be situated within the drive towards the end of history, or the ultimate global supremacy of US-modeled capitalism. This victory was declared at the end of the Cold War. The end of history envisions the role of the state being limited to maintaining law and order and a sound investment climate.

Revised - June 18 2003

Structural Adjustment in Canada
Most Canadians would be surprised to learn that economists from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annually visit Canada to dispense advice. We tend to think of the IMF as an institution that prescribes strong medicine, known as Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs), only to less developed countries. In fact our governments regularly follow the same bitter prescriptions.
 
In 1990 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney boldly declared that Canada needed to undergo structural adjustment which he promised to deliver through free trade agreements with the US and Mexico and harsh spending cuts. Little changed when the Liberals came to power. Much of the content of Finance Minister Paul Martin’s crucial 1995 budget that slashed our social safety net followed directives that came straight from the IMF.