Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 27th, 2007

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Have any municipalities in Quebec taken part in programs?

[Gord Steeves]

Yes, a number have. In Montreal and Quebec City, in particular, there are international programs. It plays a big role in their culture.

To continue with the process issue, or the focus on the process, not individuals, when we go to a place the interest is in developing processes, government frameworks, and actual written regulations. So as politicians like us come and go, the processes exist, the capacity is there, for them to simply continue; the networks have already been established.

[Brock Carlton]

Within the framework of our program, we are working in francophone African countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso. We hope to work in Niger some day. Gord mentioned Montreal and Quebec City. There's also the Municipality of Sainte-Élisabeth. People in the City of Saguenay are working very hard and doing very interesting things in Vietnam.

We have quite significant programs involving municipalities in Quebec and developing francophone countries. Also, some municipalities in Quebec are taking part in programs in Latin America. In fact, some Quebeckers speak excellent Spanish.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Yes, a number of them do. We like Spanish.

[Brock Carlton]

You had asked a question about the section entitled “Lessons learned in democratic development”, in which we stress institutions and the process, rather than individuals.

Obviously, we are working with individuals, but it's essential that this be in the context of an institution. Otherwise, an individual could receive training but then may want to find a job elsewhere.

It's important to focus on the capacity to apply techniques, but we must also strengthen the processes within institutions. For example, if we work on local tax collection, it's important to train individuals, but we must also ensure that the tax collection process is efficient and appropriate for that municipality. That is why we say it's important to focus on institutions rather than on individuals.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Are there as many benefits for Canada as hoped?

[Brock Carlton]

Yes. The advantages for Canada are...

Do you want me to continue?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Very quickly.

[Gord Steeves]

There are advantages for Canada, particularly within municipalities. We believe this is a way to build a bridge between the local government, for example in Winnipeg, and a community that supports our campaign, our ideas and our issues.

This is an opportunity for us to connect with other groups in our society. I also want to mention that a number of our directors went to work in Kampala for several months and they returned with ideas and ways of working that have improved our administration in Winnipeg.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Mr. Chair, I just want to say...

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

No, no.

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I was saying that you were talking more about the advantages for Canada than the advantages for Africa or South America.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We'll go to Mr. Goldring.

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

Thank you very much for appearing today.

It has certainly been well recognized that there's a great need for governance improvement in many countries at the local and municipal level. The work you've been doing at the local level is understandable, but there has also been a great need identified for interaction with the regional and national governments. Many times--and I think even in this room here--politicians graduate through different levels of government. It's a natural progression for future politicians.

But my question is about how much work you are devoting to ensuring that there is a liaison of the community needs with the federal government's needs. That's one question.

My second question is more informational. What percentage of that $12 million of budgeting from CIDA is devoted specifically to AIDS projects?

I think I'll be sharing with Bill.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. Steeves.

[Gord Steeves]

I'll take a stab at the first part, the liaison with regional governments. That's a great comment. From an FCM perspective, we're operating at a couple of different levels. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities, as we've said, is involved in all of these projects, but at a different level, the municipalities themselves are involved.

We have a lead role in these 18 other countries that we're currently operating in. Because we are a national organization that obviously has strong ties to our federal government, we bring that specific expertise. We spend a lot of time working at the national and international conferences to develop that capacity for the regional organizations. And they all have them. In the existing developing countries there's often an FCM equivalent that we can work with to develop capacity and show examples of how to work with their federal government. At the same time, we have cities, small towns, and communities that are working at ground level with cities, small towns, and communities in those countries to develop the actual capacity building at a local level. So those things are happening.

With respect to the specifics on the funding, I might ask Brock to respond.

[Brock Carlton]

Your question is specifically related to AIDS?

[Peter Goldring, Conservative, Edmonton East, AB]

Yes, I see everything else that is detailed here seems to be on the governance level, but there seems to be a specific HIV/AIDS component.

[Brock Carlton]

Yes. The AIDS component, first of all, is focusing on the governance elements of AIDS in local communities. It isn't about medical issues or personal health; it's about how a municipality thinks of urban planning and working with a community that suddenly has tonnes of orphans and a lot of grandparents as parents, or single parents. It's that side of the AIDS problem.

In our programming, the AIDS budget is tiny--tiny, tiny, tiny. We have not been able to convince CIDA that there is a role of any significance for local government in the HIV/AIDS fight. As Gord was talking about in Kampala, and as Toronto is working in Botswana, through some of our budgets we have some freedom to manage the kinds of themes we're working on. But they're very small.

Let me just give you an example. At the end of March I'm going to a meeting in Vancouver, where over 100 municipal administrators have signed up to volunteer their time to work on municipal government and local governance projects in AIDS-afflicted areas in Africa. We're going to work with them, but we have no resources to mobilize that capacity. We're trying to figure out how we can fit this into our existing programs.

But there is no project about AIDS; there's no program that is specifically for AIDS. We've just managed some of our local partnerships to focus on that particular issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Carlton.

Mr. Casey, did you have a point or question?

[Bill Casey, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I have about six of them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

You have about a minute and a half to do it, and that includes the answer.

[Bill Casey, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I'll try to get them in quickly.

In our notes, it says that you have a bilateral project with the Palestinian municipal management program. I'd like to know what the project is and who your Palestinian partner is.

The other question is this. Mr. Carlton said something about CIDA being a roadblock to more work that you could do. You should know that there's a long list of people who want to determine how CIDA spends its money. Just for the benefit of the parliamentary secretary, what simple and practical things could CIDA do to make it easier for you to do your work?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

What did you pay him?