Foreign Affairs Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2022

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. We we're going to divide the time. Can you just clarify what you're doing? Is it going to be four minutes and then a second round as well?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

For the first round, we'll have four minutes each, and for the second round, we will have three minutes each.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

How much time is it for the second round?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

It's three minutes each.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

Including us?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

No, you would get a minute and a half. Sorry, Mr. Bergeron.

[Stéphane Bergeron, Bloc, Montarville, QC]

What is the meaning of “each”?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

My five minutes is starting now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

It's four minutes.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

I know. I'm just kidding.

Just very briefly on another matter, I want to put a notice of motion on the table. This is a notice of motion; I'm not moving it.

It's this:

That given disturbing revelations about corruption and multiple instances of sexual abuse at the World Health Organization (WHO) and pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee conduct a study regarding corruption and abuse at the WHO and invite senior WHO leadership, including the director general, and also Dr. Akjemal Magtymova from the WHO Syrian office and Canada's Minister of International Development to provide testimony as part of this study.

I wonder, Ms. Osman, if you could speak about the government's matching program and proposals that we've heard from other witnesses that the matching program be more inclusive so that donations to any organization working on these issues can benefit from that matching.

[Zeina Osman]

I've watched some of the other witnesses and some of my peers talk about this, and you yourself speak so passionately. We urged the government to avoid this type of policy because we knew what it would cause. We knew that it meant that we would get certain calls requesting us to somehow magically become a part of that coalition so that we could also be matched.

This creates an issue not just at the fundraising level but also for us to quickly disburse funds, knowing that the government is behind us. I've heard from the previous testimony and directly from the ministry itself that pre-vetting is necessary because that is what the government has to do, but there are groups of us that have government funding. We work on several large projects and we are pre-vetted. However, we were still excluded from the matching fund. That creates a whole other problem for us.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Is it your view that these funds could be disbursed in a fairer way without compromising speed? Speed is obviously a major consideration.

[Zeina Osman]

Yes, it is, especially considering organizations that currently already have existing infrastructure and work in the regions that we're fundraising for.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You worked in response to the flood in 2010. Could you maybe compare this particular matching program to some of the program structures in 2010?

[Zeina Osman]

Of course.

In 2010, there was a Pakistan relief fund that all organizations that were working in the region had access to. This saw that there was collaboration across the board, multilaterally. Everyone felt that they were on an even playing field.

However, this year there was an announcement of just $5 million from the government and then a matching fund for just the coalition of 12 members. If you could imagine, that really excludes upwards of 50 to 100 organizations. In 2010, that was not the case, and we saw that it was about $33 million that was matched in 2010.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You would have preferred it if the government had simply used the pre-existing model that was used last time—and used effectively—rather than inventing a new model that was less fair and didn't work as well. Is that fair to say?

[Zeina Osman]

That's fair to say. We would have appreciated at least a reasoning behind the change that we could all find was adequate, or at least being invited to the table to discuss it.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

You didn't receive any reasoning in terms of why the government changed the model.

[Zeina Osman]

No.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Is it your view that the model used in 2010 was a more inclusive model that also got the money out quickly?

[Zeina Osman]

We did not see any disruptions in the disbursement of funds.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you.

I think I have about a minute left, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

You have 30 seconds left.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

All right.

Well, thank you very much.