Mr. Chair, I am going to speak to the first two amendments, and then I will turn the floor over to Ms. Nash to discuss the third.
We have three major concerns about the merger of CIDA and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
First, we want to make sure that the minister's responsibilities and duties include a reference to the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act.
Second, we want to be sure that the provision of humanitarian assistance is neutral and impartial, and will not be subject to Canada's foreign policy objectives.
Third, we want to ensure that development assistance is provided in accordance with international best practices.
Many stakeholders spoke during the consultations. Organizations like the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, Oxfam, World Vision and the Canadian Food Grains Bank want to see these amendments in the legislation; they are concerned about the humanitarian assistance approach that might be taken.
Indeed, the proposed amendments seek to establish an explicit reference to the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act. That would provide clear assurance that the Minister of International Cooperation would be responsible for ensuring that official development assistance was provided in accordance with the three key principles that underlie development assistance. They are the reduction of poverty, regard for the viewpoint of disadvantaged people, and respect for international human rights standards.
The amendments also seek to identify the key principles of humanitarian assistance, including respect for humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality. In fact, looking at the first two amendments, I see that both of them seek to include the same principles, but in different sections. The basic principle behind the amendments is, therefore, the same.
Consequently, in order to provide a proper framework for the minister's role, the NDP strongly recommends that the minister's jurisdiction and areas of intervention be defined by the existing measures. The purpose would be to limit political involvement in the delivery of development assistance.