Foreign Affairs committee  There are discussions between ECOSOC, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, the World Bank and the IMF on an annual basis. One such discussion was held in New York three weeks ago. But it is just the tip of the iceberg. It's important to have discussions in the home c

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, perhaps I can start. As the excellent Halifax Initiative report points out, it's been about 15 years since the Auditor General had a look at Canada's involvement in the IFIs. So one can begin there by saying it's time for the Auditor General, who has resources to bring to b

Foreign Affairs committee  I just have a couple of points to make, in addition to what John said. First of all, the international imbalance that John is alluding to is the more than $2 trillion worth of foreign exchange reserves being held in Asian banks. Those are being generated by something, and that s

Foreign Affairs committee  To add to that, Mr. Chairman, I think this is a very important and legitimate issue that needs a lot more attention. I think it's worth pointing out that since September 11 there has been a lot of activity among tax authorities and revenue authorities to monitor the flow of fundi

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Ms. Lalonde. To begin with, I'd like to reiterate what I said. We need multilateral institutions, but we also need to have mechanisms to coordinate the action they take and the policies they implement, and to have a way of regulating these institutions. You suggested

Foreign Affairs committee  We were part of the discussions I'm referring to by virtue of the fact that we have an executive director at both institutions. And you're right. I think there are a number of other players around the table—the Japanese, for example—who have always resented the fact that they h

Foreign Affairs committee  Actually, this has been the subject of some internal discussion going back about five or six years, when there was a succession issue at the International Monetary Fund. The executive directors of the World Bank and the monetary fund came up with a template, if you will, a succes

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting the North-South Institute to offer its views on the issues raised by the government's annual report on the Bretton Woods organizations, the IMF and the World Bank. Let me start by saying why mu