Minister Dismisses Senate's Idea Aid Agency Be Axed

from The Embassy

By Lee Berthiaume

An Ethiopian diplomat, an NGO head and some MPs agree with a Senate report that CIDA might have to change the way it works in Africa.

While the government is still studying a Senate report on Canada's Africa policy, International Co-operation Minister Josée Verner says Canada's International Development Agency is making a difference on the continent.

"When I visited Mali, I saw projects and I saw results and I saw progress," Ms. Verner told Embassy in an interview Monday. "We have made progress in Africa."

The Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade sparked an apparent furor two weeks ago when it said Canada has made no notable or lasting impact in Africa after 40 years and $12 billion of aid efforts.

The report made 44 recommendations, including a call for a complete review of CIDA's operations and the development of a comprehensive Africa policy that combines aid efforts with economic development, security and diplomatic direction.

Days later, Conservative Senator Hugh Segal reluctantly tendered his resignation as chairman of the committee in a move that fellow committee members believe was forced upon him by the Conservative leadership.

While Ms. Verner said she didn't know the details of Mr. Segal's resignation, she noted that two committee members, one Liberal and the other Conservative, had not endorsed the report.

In addition, she described some of the recommendations as contradictory, and dismissed suggestions that Canada's aid agency be dissolved.

"We cannot just decide to put away 40 years of existence of an organization," Ms. Verner said. "Do we have to change things? Maybe. We always have to adjust the way we work in those countries."

Ms. Verner said she was surprised the senators took a hard line with CIDA.

"When I appeared before [the Senate committee], nobody told me that it was about the CIDA structure," she said. "They invited me to go there to talk about Africa."

The minister said that since she took over CIDA, there has been a push for efficiency and accountability within the agency.

"We will have to make sure that that money is well-spent and make sure we have clear results and make sure we focus our aid," she said. "We have been working in that way since we've been here.

"Our government was elected on a transparency agenda and an accountability agenda and I will manage CIDA in that way," Ms. Verner added. "This is what I'm committed to doing."


'Senators Did Not Invent This'

Abdurahim Mohammed Ali, counsellor at the Embassy of Ethiopia in Ottawa, said there are ways in which CIDA can improve its development efforts in his country.

Not only is more money and technical support needed–a common complaint from African governments–but CIDA could also work more closely with the Ethiopian government more as opposed to civil society and other organizations.

"Working with civil society, sometimes, especially after the last election, sometimes they are undermining the government," Mr. Mohammed Ali said. "You have to stick with the policies and avoid external forces."

Mr. Mohammed Ali also said that Canada could provide more direct budget support to the government.

However, he said CIDA is making a difference in Ethiopia, and, in fact, is a key player in the country.

"We believe the contribution of CIDA in Ethiopia is not wasted," he said. "It helps us a lot."

Two years ago, the Canadian Council on Africa, a non-profit group that receives funding from the government and the private sector with the aim of promoting trade between Canada and Africa, made a number of recommendations that, in many cases, were repeated by the Senate committee.

"The senators did not invent this," said CCAfrica president Lucien Bradet. "They have uncovered a certain number of issues and malaise that has to be addressed."

While Mr. Bradet said the wording of the report, and its focus on CIDA, was "unfortunate," there are problems in Canada's Africa policy that the government must address.

"A lot of the recommendations make a lot of sense," he said. "Unfortunately, a lot of distraction came out because of one specific area, which is CIDA's fate."

Mr. Bradet said Canadians are becoming increasingly interested in Africa and the government will have to do something.

"You have to have a coherent policy, which we don't have," he said. "We need a statement from the government that we are serious about this."


Segal's Resignation 'Odd'

Last week, a private member's bill put forward by Liberal MP John McKay was debated in the House. The purpose of the bill is to focus CIDA on poverty alleviation efforts, a move that its proponents say will bring more direction and accountability to the aid agency.

"It is an effort to bring accountability to our aid projects," Mr. McKay told the House after presenting the bill for third reading last week.

"This is about better aid. It is not about more aid," he said before referencing the Senate committee's report. "I think that this particular bill...addresses in some small measure the concerns of the senators as they expressed them in their report."

While the opposition parties all expressed support for the proposed legislation, Conservative MPs described the proposed bill as flawed.

Ted Menzies, the parliamentary secretary for international trade and international co-operation, described the bill that "is so laden with unproductive restrictions and unnecessary criteria that it would do nothing more than overload the aid program with an administrative and bureaucratic complexity."

Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, said the government "takes a bigger picture into account" when doling out aid, and by focusing it specifically on poverty alleviation, "this bill restricts all those things and creates another level of bureaucracy."

Mark Eyking, the Liberal's CIDA critic, said much of the Senate committee report "made sense" and the proposed bill is "all part of us parliamentarians looking at CIDA and that it needs an overhaul."

Canada needs to work with countries where democracy is evolving, he added, "where we're going to get a good bang for our buck."

"We have to change the way we do things," Mr. Eyking said.

Liberal Senator Dennis Dawson, who presented the Senate committee report with Mr. Segal on Feb. 15, said the proposed bill addresses a narrow part of the problems identified in the report, but much more needs to be done if Canada wants to make a difference in Africa.

But Mr. Dawson believes Mr. Segal's resignation, the timing of which he described as "odd," will make it more difficult for the committee to sell the report to government.

"It certainly weakens a lot of the effort that went into this," he said. "But we will continue to fight for it."

lee@embassymag.ca