Foreign Affairs Committee on April 9th, 2014

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Yes.

You asked a specific question. We're here about the estimates, so we can't talk about what we haven't spent. We're only a week into the budget process, so obviously I can't—

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

But it's like last year's [Inaudible—Editor] put forward.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

No, but this is the estimates committee, not the public accounts committee.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I know. I was talking about what you said to us last time.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

But that's why I will give you this chart, which shows that we've done really well.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Oh, okay. Well, then, I guess we're all happy.

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I'm glad you're happy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much.

Now we will move over to Ms. Brown, please, for seven minutes.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Ministers, thank you for being here.

Minister Paradis, I'd like to have a bit of an update from you, if you don't mind, because we have spent a lot of money, particularly on maternal, newborn, and child health. It has become a signature program for Canada.

I'm pleased to say that I have been in many countries in Africa. My friend Ben Ofosu-Koranteng, who is from Ghana, works for the United Nations Development Programme and has 14 countries for which he is responsible in Africa.

Ben tells me that Canada's name is golden when it comes to our efforts in maternal, newborn, and child health. We've had a really integrated program, I would say, because with the contribution we've made recently to the global fund, $650 million over three years, we have put forward $2.85 billion for maternal, newborn, and child health over that program, and we're looking to a summit that's coming up in May. The Prime Minister made that announcement.

I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the successes. You alluded to some of them in your opening comments on maternal, newborn, and child health. Can you tell the committee how you see this summit rolling out in May?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Yes. Thank you very much for your question.

I think it's a great initiative and our commitment to saving the lives of mothers and children is a driving force behind the work at DFATD in international development. Of course it does align with the government's goal. As minister, I do take pride in the accomplishments Canada has achieved under the leadership of our government.

Here are some numbers. Our G-8 Muskoka initiative on maternal, newborn, and child health, MNCH, will save the lives of 1.3 million children and newborns, as well as more than 60,000 young mothers.

When we look at the MDGs, millennium development goals, I think we're on the right track. On MDGs four and five, there is still work to do, but a lot has been accomplished. I think by holding a summit, the Prime Minister once again will demonstrate Canada's leadership on this, which is well recognized. It's a great opportunity to send the signal that we will remain a leader in this, and make sure we do involve Canadians through partnerships on a Canada-wide approach. Of course, the MNCH network in Canada is very active. The members have good new ideas for the future, using technologies for filling the gaps.

Now we put the focus on strengthening health systems, also on nutrition and reducing the burden of illness and disease, but more can be done. We can think about civic registration and vital statistics. We can think about increasing participation on nutrition. We can focus also on newborns under 28 days. These were conclusions that were in the report of the commission called by the United Nations, which was co-chaired by Prime Minister Harper and President Kikwete.

These are good conclusions, and we can see that we can address some more issues in the future.

I think we've done a lot. You talked about the 20% increase in the global fund. It has tangible results. We could see solid people from the Bill Gates Foundation and the GAVI Alliance praising it, saying it was a good thing to do. Also, just yesterday, we announced new money on top of the $250 million we committed for the eradication of poliomyelitis, with the Rotarians, the WHO, and UNICEF. We'll continue also on the announcement that the Prime Minister made in Jordan for Syria, $150 million, the last tranche we announced. We carved out $50 million for the no lost generation strategy also. So it all goes in line with the child protection and the MNCH initiative in general.

There are a lot of things to come. The summit will gather together civil society, and this will be a great moment for Canada.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

I had the opportunity a year ago to visit a hospital in Cameroon. It's actually a hospital that was started by Father Émile Léger, from Quebec—Canada has a wonderful reputation there—and it started as a polio hospital.

They're doing tremendous things there, and they're very grateful for the initiatives that Canada has taken. We've had the pennies for polio initiative with Rotary Canada and Rotary International. There are some wonderful things that are taking place in looking to the eradication of polio.

Minister Yelich, I'll direct my comments to you for a moment.

I have a daughter who is a bit of a vagabond, I'll call her. She's been in about 43 countries in her young life. In fact, last Tuesday night I had an e-mail from her. The subject line was, “Mom, not in the earthquake or the tsunami”. Indeed, she was in Chile. She is travelling for the winter in South America. When she travels, I always insist that she register with travel.gc.ca as a precaution. I'm very grateful that your department has undertaken to put that in place. Being young, she thinks it's never going to happen to her. She never thinks that insurance is a necessity, but we have impressed upon her the need to do that.

I wonder if you could comment on the need for people to look at these things. We always think it's not going to happen to us. What should the average traveller do when embarking on a voyage?

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

That's correct.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Ms. Yelich, could give a quick response, as we're almost out of time.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

Really? Well, then, I'm going to tell you not to leave Canada—

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Just like Paul, she used up all the time.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

—without ensuring that you have insurance and adequate health insurance. There are many ways to purchase it, through either a travel agency, an insurance broker, or an employer's insurance provider. Credit card companies also offer travel and health insurance.

Even for a day trip, you should make sure that you have insurance. Even a day trip to the United States might surprise you. If you do have an accident, you're not going to be covered.

Don't just be a good mom, but be a good MP. I'm asking everyone to tell their constituents, first of all, to be aware of what their insurance policy will cover so they know what they're covered for, and to make sure they look into having travel insurance before they travel. As I said, that's even for a day trip to the U.S.

For the necessary guidance, as you said, go to travel.gc.ca. Members of Parliament can do everyone a good turn. As I said, there were 61 million trips last year. That tells us that we can remind people to make sure that they take out travel insurance.

Thank you for that question. It is so important to send that message.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

Monsieur Garneau, to finish up the first round, for seven minutes, please.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, everyone.

My first question is for Minister Paradis, and it's about the International Development Research Centre, IDRC. I see that IDRC's budget has been reduced by $37 million compared with last year.

Can you explain to me why $37 million has been cut from the budget of this organization that has existed since 1970?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

In the program streamlining and review exercise, we try to be as efficient as possible in the allocation of budgets. We also try to avoid duplication.

I recently met with IDRC officials. This is a work in progress. They understand that we want to achieve results. Research is important, but resources also have to be dedicated to achieving results. We came to the conclusion that resource allocation could be optimized further. That work is underway, and we are in touch with the IDRC people.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

If I understood correctly, you are saying that you are doing as much as before, but in a more efficient manner.

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

We are trying to optimize the use of the allocated funds.

A noteworthy branch is currently being implemented within IDRC. The goal is to manage that organization efficiently.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Thank you.

When it comes to Syria, I have often said that Canada provides a solid contribution in terms of humanitarian aid. However, I have also said that the refugee issue was a concern for me. I personally think that 1,300 refugees is not enough for a country like Canada.

I am constantly asking the same question, and I am yet to obtain an answer. The war has been going on for over three years. How many Syrian refugees have officially been accepted to Canada?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

That issue comes under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. My mandate is to ensure that we are providing as much aid as possible. There are really some issues involved in that.

When it comes to humanitarian corridors, we must vocally condemn the Assad regime, which often obstructs the provision of aid. We sometimes even have to deal with various rebel factions. We have to work with credible partners, who are familiar with the terrain. That is what I work on.

As for refugees, I honestly cannot say anything more about that because it's outside my jurisdiction.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

I was hoping to obtain an answer because I did not get one from the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

Switching over to something that is international in scope, the Canada-United States enhanced tax information exchange agreement implementation act, which we tend to call FATCA, is in the budget implementation bill, Bill C-31, at this point.

I would like to ask a question. Of course, it deals with the fact that we are going to be helping the United States, specifically the Internal Revenue Service,with information so that they can collect taxes from close to one million dual nationals in this country, I believe, who happen to be Canadian and American. This will very clearly involve Canada spending quite a bit of money to accomplish this, whether it's in the financial institutions themselves or through the CRA.

I would like to ask you, Minister Baird, why it is that Canada is accepting to do this at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. What is in it for Canada to help in this particular case—and possibly there may even be privacy issues—to help the United States Internal Revenue Service collect tax from Canadians with dual citizenship?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I want to thank you for the question.

Our department is obviously here to discuss things that we're responsible for, as a deputy and as a minister. This has been a lead of the Department of Finance. Obviously, it's self-evident that this is something we'd rather not be doing, but the reality is that the United States, and the U.S. Congress, and the Obama administration have policies and practices that tax people whether they're resident or non-resident. That's obviously not something that Canada does.

As for the cost of the implementation, you'd have to talk to either Minister Oliver or Minister Finley, because they're best able to know what goes on at CRA. Obviously, that's not something under my purview.

I think it's a fair issue.