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The chief executive officer of one of the world’s largest mining conglomerates is among those who have been brought in to help advise the new Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development on restructuring.
The move is raising eyebrows among those who say Canada’s development policy is too closely tied to Canada’s business interests overseas. The Canadian International Development Agency was folded into the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in last May’s budget, creating a new super-department.
The federal government said the move would create more policy coherence and effectiveness, but some critics feared it would undermine foreign aid and further tie development dollars to Canadian business interests overseas. Canada already has several international development partnerships with mining companies — including Rio Tinto Alcan, which co-finances one in Ghana — and promises to “deepen and broaden” its engagement with the private sector “in order to achieve sustainable economic development and reduce poverty in developing countries.”
Jacynthe Côté, the highly regarded Quebec-born chief executive officer of Rio Tinto Alcan, is part of the five-member external advisory group that “has already played and will continue to play a very valuable role in helping us design and test our new way of working together,” staff were told in a memo from the department’s five deputy ministers.
Other members of the group include: Janice Gross Stein, director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto; Scott Gilmore, chief executive officer of Building Markets; Nigel Fisher, UN assistant secretary general and regional co-ordinator for Syria; and Susan Cartwright, a former ambassador and top bureaucrat in the Conservative government.
The memo describes the new department’s primary objective as “excellence in advancing Canada’s international interests and values, and in serving Canadians.”
Stein said amalgamating the two departments is a challenge, but she called it a moment of “real opportunity” for Canada.
“I think this really matters for Canada. These are our most important assets as we engage with the world. If this succeeds and we are able to make our best use of those assets, we should have a greater impact on the world.”
The group has been working on the project for about two months and is expected to for at least 12 months. They are doing so without pay.
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