Deepak Obhrai

[Supply, October 29th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to speak on the motion brought forward by the Bloc about international aid. International aid is an important part of Canada's contribution to the international community. The Bloc motion asks for an increase in CIDA's, or international development, aid to respond to the immediate humanitarian crisis and, in particular, for a more effective response to the crisis in Afghanistan.

The Canadian Alliance fully supports this portion of the Bloc motion. The official opposition has long been calling for more aid for the innocent people of Afghanistan. Unfortunately Canada's contribution to this effort has been disgracefully small. We must be thoughtful about finding solutions for this complicated humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The bombing campaign is in its fourth week and the minister for international development, as has been alluded to by the parliamentary secretary on many occasions, has travelled to Africa and Europe, but has not found time to go to Pakistan to figure out the solution to the refugee problem. The former minister of foreign affairs has already done this with Oxfam. I have also learned that CIDA still has only three field offices in Pakistan.

The Bloc motion also calls for an increase in the international aid budget from .25% to 0.7% of the GDP as recommended by the United Nations. Let us be realistic. I have listened to my colleagues from the Bloc and to the replies given by the government. What I have found is an absolutely vague concept. They both agree to 0.7% as recommended by the United Nations but apparently there is absolutely no plan.

The government agrees and very nicely says that it is committed to this goal when it has the resources. Whether it will be in 10 or 15 years, as the Bloc just asked, we do not know. It is nice for the government to say that it likes this target, that the target has been there for many years and that it will probably be there for many more but there is absolutely no plan on how the money will be raised or when it will be available.

The Bloc is requesting immediate funds in the next budget as there are major important issues facing the country, national security being number one.

This would amount to an increase of 280% or approximately $4 billion. The nation is currently in a state of war and we have a primary responsibility to enhance the national security for Canadians, not to mention the ensuring physical responsibility.

The Alliance is calling for a balanced budget and will not accept another deficit. Even the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, a respected group of NGOs that understands international development, is only asking for an increase of .25% to .35% over four years. That is the plan.

We must be thoughtful and recognize that any increase would need to coincide with fundamental CIDA re-prioritization of its reform. Why do I talk about CIDA? Because all the money will be channelled through CIDA. We need therefore to re-tool CIDA for effective humanitarian assistance and development aid for the benefit of the poor countries of the world.

This development aid should promote sound investment plans, good governance and adherence to the rules of law. We have come full circle from the 1970s when there was government to government aid, then from the 1980s when aid had been given through the NGOs for more effective accountability. Now we look for other means.

Let me point at this time to a study by the Australian government on globalization that provides very interesting data on how much world poverty has been reduced. According to this study, up to 1.2 billion of the developing world's 4.8 billion people still live in extreme poverty, but the proportion of world population living in poverty has been steadily declining. Since 1980, the absolute number of poor people has stopped rising and appears to have fallen in recent years, despite strong population growth in poor countries. If the proportion living in poverty had not fallen since 1987, a further 215 million people would be living in extreme poverty today.

The very poorest countries now represent less than 8% of the world's population, compared with just over 45% in 1970. That is quite amazing. In countries that have embraced the opportunities created by global economic integration, strong economic growth has been the result, which of course decreases poverty.

Indeed, most progress has taken place in developing countries that have refined their policies, institutions and infrastructure and opened the doors to create investment. During the 1990s their growth in GDP per person was 5% a year compared with 2% for rich countries. This is amazing.

The fact is that globalization is leading to an economic boom or what economists call convergent growth, where the growth in developing countries that have embraced globalization is fast enough to narrow the gap with the leading economies. If we want to find an innovative solution for the international development corporation, I suggest that it would be crucial for us to recreate CIDA, with sound private investment policies being the key to its development purposes.

To do this, we need to be thoughtful about re-mandating CIDA, not throwing more money to an institution that is having marginal success. The mandate of CIDA must be fundamentally reformed. First, CIDA must function effectively as a conventional humanitarian relief agency, working with international and non-governmental organizations to deliver immediate assistance. Let me acknowledge the excellent work NGOs are doing in addressing the immediate humanitarian and social problems arising in the short term. I am of course talking about the AIDS issue and food shortages and, in the case of Afghanistan, the victims of the brutal regime and war.

Sadly, much of CIDA's social engineering priorities are preventing the agency from delivering effective and functional aid. Even the Minister for International Cooperation has admitted that CIDA has only a 20% success rate with its functions. This must change.

The October 2000 report of the auditor general was critical of CIDA's bureaucratic programs. He reported that CIDA did not comply with treasury board contracting policy or the government's contracting relations. He went on to state:

The terms and conditions for grants and contributions related to the Geographic programs are very general and provide no direction on how and when to use contribution agreements...CIDA's use of contribution agreements to select executing agencies often varied from its stated internal policies or practices.

This is of considerable concern since the geographic programs, which include Africa, constitute about 40% of CIDA's total budget.

The only effective solution before us to increase the private capital flow to the developing world is through a continuous promotion of globalization at this particular juncture. That is why I have been vocal for the opening of new development around the world trade negotiations next month in Qatar.

The Canadian Alliance feels it is Canada's responsibility to support international development and we agree with this concept, but we think it is irresponsible at this stage to call for a 0.7% increase when there is a need for expenditure in other areas at this given time. We feel this is a vague goal with no precise, laid out timelines or anything so it is difficult for us to support.

[Supply, October 29th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise on the motion that the Bloc has brought forward. While in principle I agree with many of the sentiments my colleague from the Bloc has talked about, especially in regard to coming up with innovative ideas to aid the developing world with our assistance dollars, I would like to ask him a question, especially in light of the fact that the Bloc is calling for 0.7% of the GDP as a target for international development. At one point he mentioned that we are 17th in the world, which is true, but in actual dollar values he should recognize that we are actually 8th in the world in comparison to the other countries.

I am interested in knowing from my colleague from the Bloc whether he is asking that this money go through the CIDA budget. This is most important since CIDA is the primary agency for international development. Does he think that this money, this increase that the Bloc has put forward, should be directed through CIDA and that CIDA would be the recipient of the majority of this increase? In light of the fact that most of us do have some problems with CIDA, I would like to hear his thoughts on what he feels is the most effective way to do this.

[Canada—Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, October 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the member for Burnaby said that I was nitpicking and I will repeat that he is nitpicking again. In reference to free trade and globalization the study stated:

The very poorest countries now represent less than 8% of the world ’s population compared with just over 45% in 1970. In countries that have embraced the opportunities created by integration with world markets...”

The member talked about the workers in Costa Rica. I repeat that the NDP is nitpicking. It will bring its people together but it will not go and talk to the people on the street who are benefiting from economic liberalization.

[Canada—Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, October 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to respond to the question. Let me tell the member that I grew up in a country that was in poverty. Today it is one of the poorest countries in the world.

I was there in August and talked to the people. I will say repeatedly that the NDP is nitpicking these little things because of the rhetoric being used. The members use so-called NGO groups who have similar interests and say they represent the people. If they went to those nations, walked the streets and talked with the people who have businesses, they would find out exactly what people want. They want prosperity.

Of course they want good living standards and better labour standards, but that will come through free trade and economic activity. It will not come through a central state government as the NDP wants. I have lived in that country and have seen the labour standards. The standards that the NDP says are there do not exist.

Where it exists is where people have choices. They have the choice to go from business to business to raise their living standards. With this documentation and the usual NDP rhetoric about corporate interests, the member seems to forget every time that it is the economic activity minus the corporations. Corporations do not operate the major activities of the country. Major activities of the country are done by small and medium sized businesses. That is where economic prosperity comes from, not from large corporations.

I would suggest to the NDP to forget about a parallel summit, to go out and walk the streets and talk to the local people to find the answers.

[Canada—Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, October 25th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak on Bill C-32, the implementation of the free trade agreement between the Government of Canada and the government of the Republic of Costa Rica.

Time after time the Canadian Alliance has said it is in favour of free trade. In that context we see this agreement as one step forward in the implementation of free trade, which we feel is the route to go for the prosperity of Canada.

I will be splitting my time, Mr. Speaker, with the member for Surrey Central.

One of the concerns raised by members on this side of the House was the impact on the domestic sugar industry. I am pleased to note that an agreement was reached in committee to say that this model would not be applied throughout the other free trade agreements, which paves the way for the Alliance to support the bill.

Our concern for the sugar industry still remains regarding future trade agreements that Canada might sign. We are putting the Minister for International Trade on notice that if future trade agreements are signed they should be more balanced in the interests of both countries.

I want to talk in general about free trade in the world and globalization. I just returned with the minister from the APEC conference in Shanghai last week where an interesting paper was presented by the government of Australia called “Globalization and Poverty”. I hope my colleagues from the NDP and others will listen carefully to what the research said.

I will quote some statements from the document:

Globalisation --in the form of increased economic integration through trade and investment--is an important reason why so much progress has been made against poverty and global inequality over recent decades.

Good national policies,sound institutions and domestic political stability are also important...in reducing poverty.

Up to 1.2 billion people of the developing world's 4.8 billion people still live in extreme poverty, but the proportion of the world population living in poverty has been steadily declining. Since 1988 the absolute number of poor people has stopped rising and appears to have fallen in recent years despite strong population growth in poor countries.

If the proportion living in poverty had not fallen, since 1987 alone a further 215 million people would be living in extreme poverty today. There is very strong evidence here. The very poorest countries now represent less than 8% of the world total population compared with just over 45% in 1970.

The Australian document went on to say:

Most progress has taken place in developing countries that have reformed their policies, institutions and infrastructure to become the ‘new globalisers’...During the 1990s their growth in gross domestic product per person was 5 per cent a year compared with 2 per cent of the rich countries... But far more serious problems confront the countries that have not integrated with the global economy--countries that account for up to 2 billion people. Often experiencing internal conflict and suffering poor government anti-business policies and low participation in international trade, these countries have not joined the process of globalisation, with the consequences of slowly growing incomes or even declining incomes and rising poverty.

The document says quite clearly that evidence produced over the last decade shows that globalization and free trade have been major instruments in moving people out of poverty, specifically in Asian countries. This is clear evidence why it is important to have free trade in the world.

The member for Churchill gave one example when she talked about 200 women who lost their lives while travelling. Yes, that is a tragic consequence. However, in the overall context of the situation, we must look at the bigger picture that has propelled people to move out.

The problem with these anti-globalization protestors, and the NDP, is they nitpick. The loss of 200 lives is extremely important, I am not saying that it is not. However, they nitpick small little things to put up barriers against free trade and globalization. Evidence shows that the majority of people have moved from the poor sections of the economy to better living standards.

In the APEC conference, which I attended with the Minister for International Trade, every country there talked about moving their economies into the global market. After years of experimenting with other forms, they see that as one of the key factors in helping their countries to move out poverty and improve the living standards of their citizens.

Twenty-one countries cannot be wrong, can they? They have looked hard at the results. They are the ones that have been governing for years. Yet we have the anti-globalization led by the NDP, that is the new mantra these days of anti-globalization, putting up barriers, supposedly for these poor people. I do not know for whom they talk.

All I know is that most of these NGOs and anti-globalization protestors, who supposedly live in rich countries and have great living standards, are trying to impose their will on other countries that want to improve their standard of living. The anti-globalization protestors are putting up barriers to stop the same people who they are trying to help, when all economic indicators and research point to the fact that free trade has assisted them in moving forward. I do not understand why the NDP is picking up that mantra.

In conclusion, the Canadian Alliance will support Bill C-32 in the context that free trade has been one of the engines of prosperity for Canada.

[Minister for International Cooperation, October 24th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I agree with her that the facts do not change. The fact is the minister used her position for personal gain. The minister openly disregarded the principles of transparency and fairness.

This is a minister that goes around the world preaching for fairness and an end to patronage. She herself cannot follow her own preachings. She is an embarrassment to Canada.

Will the Prime Minister ask for her immediate resignation?

[Minister for International Cooperation, October 24th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister for International Cooperation used her cabinet position for personal electoral gain. A CIDA contract given to her senior campaign workers was signed after the event had taken place on her personal recommendation and to the benefit of no one but herself.

She has tarnished her department's reputation. There is only one course of action and that is for her to resign. Will the Prime Minister ask for her resignation?

[Terrorism, October 4th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, let me quote what the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship and the Attorney General of Canada said in a Supreme Court of Canada document:

—the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (“FACT”) are examples of political and benevolent front organizations which support the LTTE--

That is what the government said. Will the Minister of Finance excuse himself when naming this organization as a terrorist organization?

[Terrorism, October 4th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Finance. The minister has stated that he will seize the assets of those who raise funds for terrorist organizations.

Last year the minister was the guest of honour at a dinner sponsored by the front organization for the Tamil tigers. Will he now excuse himself from any decision regarding naming FACT as an organization which raises funds for terrorist organizations?

[Canada—Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, October 2nd, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be recorded as voting yea to this motion.