CIDA Is For The Poor

The title of this post might appear obvious, yet in practice it's anything but. The Government of Canada's chief vehicle for investing in international development, CIDA has become so many things to so many departments that it's become the utilitarian piggy bank for a multitude of political and economic designs. When the Auditor General recently stated in her report that the Agency has had far too many mandates and almost as many ministers in such a short period of time that it suffers from a clear case of misdirection, it was only the truth.To be sure, by becoming a kind of hidden slush fund for the designs of prime ministers and other departments, CIDA can no longer fight for itself. That's why the Auditor General's report offered no clear direction for how the organization can overcome its problem of too many paramours - no one can really tell who it belongs to anymore. To the Department of Defence for its own narrow purposes in Afghanistan?  To the Department of Trade for the use of opening up new markets for Canadian industry?  To present PMO officials who historically viewed it as a Liberal construct and who now seek to demean it by adorning it with bangles while farming it out to the nearest suitor?I have spoken with more CIDA officials than I care to recount and the theme is consistent: the Agency has fully become a tool for partisan political purposes. When the Auditor General can offer only vague conclusions and managers and workers are singled out for a lack of results, you know the problems are so deep as to be perhaps permanent in nature. Blame the underlings all you like, the ultimate source for such lack of direction must be laid solidly at the feet of the political masters.It is time to acknowledge what Canadians believe about CIDA but which political operatives, past and present, have refused to permit: CIDA is for the poor. Following decades of misdirection and increased dysfunction, in which so many wanted to use it for their own particular designs, the time has come to give it a mandate it can own and be accountable for. In fact, this is the greatest gift granted it by Parliament a short while ago with Bill C-293 - the Aid Accountability Act. The clearest direction in that act refers to all CIDA's undertakings being seen through the lens of the alleviation of poverty. Finally, following numerous governments with their own self-serving mandates, the Agency had the chance to set its own table - a clear advantage, to be sure, but one which which set the parameters for the Agency to be held transparent and accountable.The problem is that the Harper government has no intention of fulfilling the spirit of this legislation. It's principles are so hidden within the Agency that the Auditor General never once referred to it as CIDA's main accounting mechanism for funds or programming. One operative sent from the PMO to oversee the direction of CIDA recently stated that C-293 was a "Liberal, left-wing, socially engineering piece of legislation." He was wrong and wildly off the mark. Similar pieces of legislation are found in other nations and have improved performance. Moreover, CIDA's many partners, at home and abroad, have consistently pressed for just such legislation for the Agency.  Sadly, the present government will have none of it, forcing CIDA to plaster on more makeup over the wrinkles, more fake jewelry for adornment, and more shallowness to keep it from being truly loved - a not so effective covering up of that fact its past was more promising than its future.Parliament has spoken and the government has broken its vows with that Parliament and thus with how the Canadian people view the Agency. CIDA is for the poor. And until its provided its own mandate and separate department, it will always be left waiting by the phone for the next suitor. Both the Canadian people and the world's poor deserved so much better.