McLeod Group Blog

Nasty Canada

May 27, 2013

Recently, Andrew Coyne wrote an article about the Conservatives, saying that their “Nasty Party” reputation was well deserved. The adjectives Coyne used were moronic, secretive, controlling, manipulative, crude, autocratic, vicious, untrustworthy, paranoid. “It’s quite a performance,” he said. And that was before the full Technicolor Duffygate

You can’t of course, separate the party from the government it runs. And that government has applied the same qualities it uses in Canada to its foreign policy, making Canada an outcast in ...

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CIDA’s Dead-End Merger

May 18, 2013

Is the CIDA amalgamation another flawed move?  Can this latest political manoeuvre yield better outcomes for the poor? Or is the promise of policy coherence and effectiveness a mirage?

The costs of the transition, ranging from the mundanities of new business cards and the switch-over of all software protocols to the further losses of morale and skills as staff are shuffled out or into new roles, will be high.  It might seem that the hidden goal is budget savings, ...

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The Good News Budget Bill

May 2, 2013

So, the verdict is in. Pundits, academics, even the troublesome NGOs seem to like Bill C-60, the Harper Government’s omnibus Budget Bill that, among many, many other things, “folds” CIDA into DFAIT.

When the merger was announced, John Baird—perhaps trying to alleviate the concerns of those who saw aid budget cuts ahead—said it had nothing to do with money. Which makes you wonder, then, why the merger was squeezed into a Budget Bill. But we’re getting used to that, ...

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Goodbye to All That: The Death of CIDA

Goodbye to All That: The Death of CIDA

March 23, 2013

The execution of CIDA has been applauded by at least two former foreign ministers (Barbara McDougall and Lloyd Axworthy) and proclaimed to be reasonable “in principle” by a wide variety of academics and journalists—pointing to Scandinavian models for evidence, deploring CIDA’s past mismanagement, and citing the need for a coherent foreign policy. A common story line for many commentators, most of whom don’t know any more about the Paris Declaration than Julian Fantino, is that aid never worked ...

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Fantino’s Fantasy: CIDA, Israel and all That

February 7, 2013

In September, Canada and Great Britain signed an agreement that will see the two countries sharing embassies abroad. The idea is to extend each country’s diplomatic reach while cutting costs. The move has been criticized because it could compromise Canada’s independence and its foreign policy. Canada and Australia already have this kind of arrangement in some 26 countries, but let’s face it, Britain isn’t Australia, and the Brits have issues and image ...

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Haiti and Canada: From Bad to Perverse

Jan 10, 2013

Readers of McLeod Group blogs will know that the relationship between Canada and Haiti is an important issue for us.  As we approach the third anniversary of the January 2010 earthquake that killed 225,000 Haitians and made over one million homeless, it is critical to take a look at the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country and largest recipient of Canadian bilateral aid.

Let’s take stock. While most of North America – certainly the media – was fixated on the effects ...

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How Can The Private Sector Deliver Sustainable Poverty Reduction?

December 4, 2012

The recent Foreign Affairs’ Parliamentary Committee report entitled ‘Driving Inclusive Economic Growth’ presents an often confused mix of the old and new: poor regulation, weak transparency (and associated corruption), micro-finance, the innovative role of the cellphone in banking, etc. Much is interesting, some is worryingly ambiguous, but little is innovative.

The Committee should have focused on how Canadian support for the private sector can foster stronger, pro-poor, inclusive growth in CIDA’s low-income priority countries.

But their final text focused on ...

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Affleck Flight-Flick Flutter: Art Imitates Life Imitates Art

November 5, 2012

If you’ve seen the new Ben Affleck film, Argo, you’ll know that Canada didn’t really play much of a role in the rescue of six American embassy employees during the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979-80. Although the Americans were secretly housed in the homes of Canadian diplomats and were given Canadian passports, forcing Canada to close its embassy, it was actually the CIA, and more especially Hollywood, that did the real work.

The basic Argo plot: a CIA operative (Affleck) goes to ...

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Ready, Fire, Aim: Baird Bites Bullet

August 27, 2012

“Uh oh, we goofed,” is an admission you are very unlikely to hear from the Harper government, especially when it comes to its behaviour internationally. Recent events in the Harper Government’s approach to Syria are no exception. The conclusion from the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t support for Canadian Relief for Syria is that Foreign Minister John Baird, International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino, and the Prime Minister himself, aren’t very interested in effective humanitarian aid, respect for international agreements and conventions, ...

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Canada: What Happened? John Baird Excoriates the United Nations

July 10, 2012

Not long after Stephen Harper snubbed the UN and instead went to New York to collect a “Statesman of the Year” award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation—handed over tellingly by Henry Kissinger—John Baird mounted the podium at the UN General Assembly. Finally getting a slot late in the queue amidst other second stringers like Oman, Djibouti, The Holy See and Palau, he told the nations of the world that in their collectivity, they are simply no good.

His ...

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