In defence of beleaguered Minister of International Cooperation, Bev Oda, Prime Minster Stephen Harper told the Canadian Parliament that the Canadian International Development Agency should give money only to “the poorest and the most vulnerable.”
This is NOT what CIDA is doing.
According to CIDA, tax payer dollars are now subsidizing the corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects of the world’s wealthiest mining companies.
In June 2010, CIDA acknowledged having received proposals to fund CSR projects in which “…NGOs and firms have described arrangements of shared responsibility…” The firms CIDA refers to are among the world’s largest and most profitable multinational mining companies such as Barrick Gold and Rio Tinto.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10744.