Aid and Ebb Tide: A History of CIDA and Canadian Development Assistance

7. Multiple Mandates and Partners, 1983-89

216 Aid and Ebb Tide mented favourably on projects in the educational sector and on the work of NGOs. Overall, the Institute concluded that the coherence of the aid program was being undermined by a crisis of mixed and changing objectives. Foreign policy, commercial, and short­term humanitarian relief considerations tended to crowd out the objective of long­term development. Not enough Canadian aid was reaching the poor, especially in rural areas; the technological bias of aid tying was a factor, and so too was the tendency to avoid risks. Over­ centralization of personnel and decision­making authority in Ottawa, cum­ bersome and time­consuming procedural regulations, lack of field­based experience, and inadequate capacities to store and retrieve corporate memo­ ries were seen as weakening CIDA's effectiveness. The release of the first two evaluations and the general conclusions was well timed, coinciding with the appointment in June 1983 of Margaret Catley­Carlson as CIDA's new president. The reports also received extensive coverage in the press, which for the most part dwelt not on project failures but on the case for reforming the aid program. The argument for decentraliza­ tion was embraced especially forcefully.168 In the House of Commons, Douglas Roche urged the government to act on the reports by producing at last a development strategy for the 1980s focused on reaching those most in need.169 The Futures Secretariat170 While the North­South Institute's bilateral evaluations contributed to more thoughtful discussions on CIDA in the media, an effort by Mark MacGuigan to broaden support for Canadian aid ended in failure. When the minister agreed to address the UN General Assembly in August 1980, he was eager to announce something tangible as he did not yet have authority to renew Canada's 0.7 per cent commitment.What emerged was a pledge to establish a "Futures Secretariat" in CIDA "to inform and involve our citizens."171 When interviewed after his speech, MacGuigan said he sensed that increased aid was neither strongly opposed nor solidly supported by Canadian taxpayers. "But," he continued, "what I would like to see is a Canadian public which itself so much wants to help the developing world that they are besieging the government with pressure, with requests, with admonitions to do something of this kind."172 He wanted public pressure, not just support, and his pro­ posed Futures Secretariat wouldcontribute to that end. The idea was inspired by Lewis Perinbam, who used "Futures Secre­ tariat" at a conference earlier that summer as a possible name for an interna­ tional brains trust of distinguished world citizens along lines suggested by the Brandt Commission.173 Following MacGuigan's surprise announcement, bemused CIDA officials (including Vice­President Perinbam) found them­ Rethinking the Mission, 1980­83 217 selves responsible for implementing an ill­defined commitment to set up a new Canadian institution housed within CIDA. CCIC immediately con­ demned the proposal on grounds that it would duplicate the development edu­ cation work of NGOs and give government an excuse for inaction.174 NGO representatives and others invited to a CIDA consultation on the Futures Sec­ retariat in October 1980 said they wanted no part of an initiative that might emerge as a propaganda vehicle for CIDA and the government. A working group, chaired by Perinbam and including CCIC and NGO representatives, recommended shortly thereafter that the Secretariat become a citizens' advisory council on international development, which would meet two or three times a year and be co­chaired by the minister and the external affairs critics of the opposition parties. It would include representatives of the NGO community, and reach out to sectors of the Canadian public not nor­ mally exposed to development education work and/or predisposed negatively to the radical message of many development activists. Enthusiastic at first, MacGuigan backed off when he was warned about potential political pitfalls by Under­Secretary Gotlieb and other officials in External Affairs. Then, in January 1981, the minister announced that the Futures Secretariat would be a non­governmental organization. CCIC, which had supported a citizens' coun­ cil, was aghast at the notion of a government­sponsored NGO and withdrew from the working group. The Futures Secretariat was launched as a "non­governmental" entity after MacGuigan convened a March 1981 conference of carefully chosen rep­ resentatives of business, labour, church, educational, and women's groups. Many of these went on to serve on a thirty­person Board chaired by Kurt Swinton, an industrial engineer with considerable experience in...