Oct. 8, 2013
It’s easy to save money and effort—don’t buy toothbrushes, toothpaste or dental floss, never take your kids to the dentist, don’t bother with fluoridation of municipal water supplies—and in a few years the kids won’t have teeth to worry about.
There is increasing evidence that a similar but stealthy malign neglect is affecting Canada’s contribution to international development, thanks to the Harper Government. Let’s look at the evidence.
On July 14, 2013, the Ottawa Citizen reported that CIDA would underspend its budget by $419 million—13% for the fiscal year ended March 2013—on top of a cut of $377 million (7.5%) for the same year. That’s a total cut of nearly 20% within a single year.
But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Looking at what is happening under the waterline reveals several patterns.
Institutions that do not meet with the Harper Government’s favour—like Montreal’s ill-fated Rights and Democracy – were closed after their Board and funding were not renewed. More recently, the Pearson Center, internationally renowned for research and training on peace building, has had to fold because of funding cuts.
The International Development Research Centre, which was established by Parliament in 1970, has been a dynamic supporter of development research by developing country scientists and institutions. It has built and supported global research networks crucial to solving development problems. Not many Canadians know of IDRC’s work: it does not promise a ‘quick fix’ for issues important to the Conservative base and so it too, is at risk of becoming another victim of malign neglect. The position of President was left in doubt for months until an internal executive was appointed as leader in May. Until there was public attention this summer, IDRC’s Board of Governors was allowed to shrink until the Board lacked a quorum to make important decisions. The Harper government hastily appointed Canadian civil servants instead of renewing the high-profile mix of Canadian and international researchers who have guided the institution’s success.
In other cases, agencies–including KAIROS, The Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Alternatives, the Forum of Federations, Match and Development and Peace—have had their funding applications cut or rejected. That this was a political decision became public knowledge in the case of KAIROS, and is suspected in others.
Now a third pattern is emerging. In recent years, before CIDA was folded into Foreign Affairs and International Trade, it instituted a system of ‘requests for proposals’ (RFP) to make more consistent and transparent funding decisions. However, the number of RFPs has declined precipitously, and for some organizations there has not been a call for several years. This means that they have had no opportunity to apply for funding. Next on the chopping block are the Canadian volunteer-sending organizations, whose current funding arrangements with CIDA expire at the end of March 2014.
Because of the uncertainty of future funding, these agencies will soon have to start repatriating Canadians well before the end of their assignments. Volunteer-sending directly benefits Canada through the insights, contacts and experience gained by Canadians working around the world. It now seems that many of them—from CECI/WUSC with 450 volunteers to Oxfam Quebec, Canada World Youth, Canadian Crossroads International, and CUSO with hundreds of others—will have to close or severely curtail their operations.
Even if new calls for proposals were issued tomorrow, given the delays in processing and approvals, it is extremely unlikely that decisions could be made in time to prevent a wholesale return of volunteers working abroad.
Apart from supporting Canadian mining companies, it seems the Harper Government prefers to invest in a very few projects that are highly visible to its base, like the maternal child health initiative, or in agencies that reflect the beliefs of its base, like Christian Crossroads Communications, which was recently slammed for its homophobic website.
While it is perfectly legitimate for the Harper Government’s development cooperation agency to revise and update performance standards and funding criteria, the current secretive process of malign neglect ignores 40 years of hard-won development experience, and alienates a significant number of Canadian and international partners.
Malign neglect is a strategy that only becomes evident after the damage is done. It is a devious and pernicious way to govern.