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24 years 6 months ago.   .   Financer la débâcle: La Société pour l’expansion des exportations (SEE) du Canada     En 1999, Amnistie Internationale sonnait l’alarme à la suite de la mort de quarte autochtones colombiens tués lors d’une manifestation contre la construction d’un barrage hydroélectrique qui avait dévasté leur source de subsistance et qui, une fois terminé, allait inonder la plus grande partie de leurs terres.   Read more ...
24 years 7 months ago.   ECA Reform, EDC reform, EDC regulation.   Debt aspects related to export credit agencies The cancellation of Third World debt has been a rallying cry of social movements for years, gaining in volume and numbers in 2000 as a result of the global Jubilee movement. Much attention has been focused on the debts owed by poor countries to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. However, export credit agencies collectively own more debt of Third World countries than the World Bank and the IMF combined.   Read more ...
24 years 7 months ago.   .   Currency transactions taxes such as the Tobin-type tax are often dismissed by critics before all the arguments have been heard. They view the tax as too difficult to adopt and too easy to avoid. Much criticism is ill-informed or designed to stifle debate. Here are the most common myths and our response to them: A TOBIN-TYPE TAX WILL HIT THE POOR The tax is a progressive one, designed to target only those profiting from destabilising currency speculation.** The poor don’t flip millions of dollars a day on currency and bond markets, the world’s biggest banks urrency and bond markets, the world’s biggest banks and investment firms do. This tax will hit them.   Read more ...
24 years 7 months ago.   Corporate accountability, Human rights, Transparency and disclosure.   October 8, 1999 Hon. Pierre Pettigrew Minister for International Trade Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade 125 Sussex Drive Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2 By FAX: 996-8924 Eight pages including this page Dear Minister Pettigrew, This letter contains the formal response of the Working Group on the EDC to the Report on the Review of the Export Development Act, conducted by the firm Gowling, Strathy & Henderson. The Working Group on the EDC is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations concerned about the human and environmental impact of export financing agencies. The Working Group, which is a project of the Halifax Initiative, promotes adherence by export credit agencies, particularly the Export Development Corporation, to internationally accepted standards regarding human rights, environment and sustainable development.   Read more ...
24 years 7 months ago.   IFI policies and positions.   HIPC Initiative will not serve the world’s poorest with the IMF in control 28 Sept. 1999 The Halifax Initiative coalition of development, labour, human rights and environment organizations is deeply concerned that debt relief is still inappropriately conditioned on compliance with IMF-directed programs. The debt crisis continues to be used as a lever to force open economies, an inexcusable manipulation of poverty and human tragedy. The heart of the problem is that final control of the program remains in the hands of an unreformed IMF.   Read more ...
24 years 8 months ago.   Environmental.     Export credit agencies seek to improve environmental standards Thursday, September 23, 1999 By The Canadian Press OTTAWA (CP) -- Export credit agencies, which finance many of the world's biggest industrial projects, are trying to agree on stricter standards for environmental assessment. Officials from about 20 government-owned credit agencies, including Canada's Export Development Corp., met here Thursday to discuss the environment issue, while activists denounced the record to date.   Read more ...
24 years 8 months ago.   HIPC initiative, IFI policies and positions.   HIPC Initiative will not serve the world’s poorest with the IMF in control September 18, 1999     Read more ...
24 years 10 months ago.   .   Here's a brief summary of events since our last update : FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - MOTION? WHAT MOTION?  The federal government has made no formal effort to act on the endorsement given to it by Canadians and is, in fact, actively downplaying the Tobin tax motion. Although Finance Minister Paul Martin assured Halifax Initiative representatives, at a meeting in Washington in April, that he had raised the Tobin tax informally with Finance Ministers, actions in Canada and abroad reveals a failure of commitment and a betrayal of the democratic process.   Read more ...
24 years 10 months ago.   Government of Canada policies and positions.   China pushes Canada hard on controversial Tibet project - Globe and Mail ( PDF file )   Read more ...

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