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— often working with a private sector partner — to market this expertise abroad. This provides a public good in the recipient country and a financial return to the department or agency concerned. 62 There are also internal pressures at work. The quest for excellence by Canadian policymakers prompts them to look for best practices elsewhere and incorporate them into Canadian policies. To achieve domestic mandates, departments often must operate internationally to keep abreast of rapid changes in conditions and technologies. For instance, Canadians have a strong self-interest in maintaining a clean environment. Yet, our own environment is affected by the policies and actions of governments in other parts of the world. Toxic pesticides, carried by the Jet Stream from China, have been found in pristine mountain lakes in British Columbia and in the Great Lakes. The easiest way to remove these from our own environment is to help Chinese farmers find alternative chemicals to use in their fields. BUT IS IT ODA? Is it really “aid” when Canadians gain some benefit from the development assistance they provide and, if it is, should that form of cooperation be classified as ODA? There are obviously different motivations at work — at least in the Canadian partners — between training Chinese officials in industrial relations concepts and helping to upgrade maritime safety in Vietnamese ports. In fact, the first (from which Canada is unlikely to draw any commercial benefit) is funded directly by Human Resources Development Canada, while the Vietnamese project (which will at least indirectly benefit Canadian shippers) is being carried out by Transport Canada and funded by CIDA as regular ODA. However, from the recipient country’s perspective, there will be no difference. In each case Canada is providing, at no cost to the recipient, a public good. This suggests a new dimension to the long-running debate about foreign aid. Critics of ODA suggest it is wasteful and ineffective, whether for reasons of design or implementation. Defenders of official assistance programs, on the other hand, say the need is for better targeted programs as well as more aid in total. Without dismissing the importance of the issues raised by both sides, there is clearly a need for Canada’s overall aid strategy to take into account the new demands for regional public goods that have been fostered by globalization. In practice, this means a much wider definition of what constitutes development assistance and greater recognition of the role of domestic government departments in international cooperation activities. This is not an issue peculiar to Canada alone: other traditional aid donor countries are facing the same debate. The beginnings of a new understanding can be seen in a recent United Nations Development Program publication, Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21 st Century. 3 Drawing on the findings of more than 20 distinguished scholars, the editors point out that “today’s system offers only two roles: donor or recipient of ODA. The criterion for being a recipient is primarily a country’s income with other factors that may cause special vulnerability, such as being land-locked or drought-prone. But...a public goods strategy needs more differentiated roles...the current system of development cooperation needs an expanded typology of actors if it is to accommodate global public good strategies.” 4
The report emphasizes the need to “transform international cooperation from its traditional place as ‘external affairs’ into policy-making applicable to most, if not all, domestic issue areas.” 5 As noted, many Canadian government departments are already engaged in international cooperation activities through APEC, CIDA or other organizations, so the transformation in Canada is already underway. However, this change has come about by accident rather than by design, with little thought given to the coherence of these international cooperation activities with overall foreign policy or ODA objectives. In some departments, the mandate for such activities may not even be clear, with no assurance of an adequate budget or policies covering retention of revenue. In other cases, the lack of a clear mandate may be holding back departments that could usefully assume some international role. In the absence of clarity about the purpose and limits of a department’s role in international cooperation, it is only a matter of time before problems arise, for example working at crosspurposes with other departments or an inability to follow through on promises. 63 Canada’s overall international engagement cannot be compartmentalized among departments. For example, attempts to restructure the international financial system will impact upon poverty reduction efforts. The challenge is to mould partnerships between CIDA and other departments and agencies within a strategic framework. CIDA can show leadership in this effort. The minister responsible for CIDA is the minister for international cooperation, which implies a broader range of responsibilities than traditional ODA. Departments have their sectoral expertise, but not necessarily the ability to manage international projects or cross-cultural training. These skills are among CIDA’s strengths. It is important that other countries see Canada offering a coherent and consistent strategy in its ODA. With our influence in the world already far from dominant, we must have a more strategic approach to international cooperation. We are already guilty of sometimes confusing our foreign partners by the multiplicity of faces — national, provincial, regional and even municipal — with which we confront them. The first step must be to develop a strategic framework that recognizes the diversity of players and takes into account the public goods approach to assistance. This would define more clearly the international role of departments and help forge networks between them. There is a need for a “knowledge broker” to better organize Canada’s expertise, coordinating the supply of, and demand for, services offered by departments and agencies; maintaining a corporate memory by tracking lessons learned from various collaboration experiences; and keeping key departments and offices (such as Canadian overseas posts) informed of projects affecting their areas of responsibility. Interdepartmental working groups can be established to identify best practices in departments working overseas, taking into account mandates, budgets and revenue. These best practices could form the basis for the development of public sector-wide policies that are consistent with the needs of international cooperation in a globalized world. Research will be needed into the scope and impact of the “new” cooperation to determine how best to organize these activities. And an audit should soon be undertaken to determine the total level of Canada’s international cooperation spending to help put the ODA target into perspective.
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October 2000, we will hold the firs
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OVERVIEW 1 asia in convalescence 7
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Page 11 and 12: GRADE ‘98 Inward Investment C- In
Page 13 and 14: THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION Unde
Page 15 and 16: The largest pool of investable Cana
Page 17 and 18: enabled Canada to take a stronger r
Page 19 and 20: emoval. However, most of the change
Page 21 and 22: MAJOR EVENTS 2 a year in review 21
Page 23 and 24: stock markets were climbing. As the
Page 25 and 26: six-fold in Thailand. With the exce
Page 27 and 28: the past played a very small role i
Page 29 and 30: it had allowed in recent years. A m
Page 31 and 32: SECURITY BACKTRACK While economic c
Page 33 and 34: Outbreaks of violence in other part
Page 35 and 36: ECONOMIC RELATIONS 3 looking for a
Page 37 and 38: TODAY’S DELAY IS TOMORROW’S LOS
Page 39 and 40: ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Page 41 and 42: to achieve operating efficiencies t
Page 43 and 44: Finally, foreign investment by Cana
Page 45 and 46: NORTH AMERICAN INTEGRATION 4 too mu
Page 47 and 48: similar to that with the US with on
Page 49 and 50: British Columbia provides a recent
Page 51 and 52: part of US-assembled goods bound fo
Page 53 and 54: ASIAN EXPERTISE 5 hidden advantage
Page 55 and 56: cautioned that “not every Asian C
Page 57 and 58: usiness skills to enhance Canada-As
Page 59 and 60: 6 DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ODA for a
Page 61: the term “development assistance
Page 65 and 66: ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION OF CANADA 7
Page 67 and 68: CANADIAN EDUCATION CENTRE NETWORK T
Page 69 and 70: NOTES CHAPTER 1 1. Based on markets
Page 71 and 72: NOTES 5. Research by Tamim Bayoumi
Page 73 and 74: REFERENCES —. Statistics Canada.
Page 75 and 76: REFERENCES United Nations Conferenc
Page 77 and 78: STATISTICAL APPENDIX ASIAN MOTHER T
Page 79: STATISTICAL APPENDIX CANADA’S TRA
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