If you have the bill and the proposed first amendment in front of you, you'll see that in subclause 2.(1), lines 9 and 10, of the current bill, it says:
poverty reduction and in a manner consistent with Canadian values, Canadian foreign policy and international human rights standards.
Now it will read:
poverty reduction and in a manner consistent with Canadian values and Canadian foreign policy and that promotes international human rights standards.
That was a direct response to what we heard on the floor of the House. I understand this has been under discussion at this committee in the past. That was the first amendment.
The second amendment is on clause 3, adding after line 19, “civil society organization”. This definition means--and this is new--a not-for-profit or a charitable organization whose governing structure is independent. This expands the whole basis for consultation among those with whom the minister would consult. That would be the second point, the definition of civil society.
The next amendment would be to delete lines 20 and 22, because there is no longer a requirement for the committee.
Moving through the bill, we've expanded the notion of development assistance. We lifted this from what the minister has said in public pronouncements in the last little while. As you can see, we have been a little more precise in our definition of development assistance. It means:
funding that's transferred to developing countries and multilateral institutions by government agencies, and that is administered with the principal objective of promoting the economic development and welfare of developing countries that is concessional in character and that conveys a grant element of at least 25%.
This is right out of what the minister has been speaking about.
The next amendment would be adding after line 11 on page 2, “international human rights standards”. We would say:
“international human rights standards” means standards that are based on international human rights conventions to which Canada is a signatory.
I believe this was raised by Mr. Menzies in debate. I think it is a response to a concern that he raised.
We also expanded the definition of “minister” to read:
the Minister for Cooperation or any other minister designated by the governor in council as the minister for the purposes of this Act.
That is just a broader definition.
Then “non-governmental organization” is deleted, because we replaced it with “civil society organization”.
That takes us to clause 4. Then you get to, if you will, the guts of the change. In lines 29 to 31 on page 2 we replaced “the competent minister may consult with international agencies and Canadian non-governmental organizations” with:
the competent minister shall consult with international agencies and Canadian civil society organizations
Civil society is a larger concept than non-government organizations. This way we tie the minister into this bill and require her or him to show that they have consulted with civil society organizations.
The next change is to delete clauses 6, 7, and 8.
You also delete lines 17 and 18 on clause 9 because there's no longer a summary of an annual report submitted by the committee under section 8--