Now there's a match made in heaven! The "followers of Jesus" at World Vision and the disciples of Mammon at Barrick Gold, together bringing "development" Canadian style to the benighted indigenous communities of Peru.
That's a pilot project referenced by Canada's International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino in his speech to the Economic Club of Toronto on Friday.
The Harper gang wants to get more bang for the buck out of it's foreign aid budget. Specifically, more bang for Canadian corporations out of taxpayers bucks, and what the hell, if you can get away with calling it "foreign aid" so much the better!
Alas, not everyone is impressed with Barrick's humanitarian initiatives in Peru. In fact, people have died resisting Barrick's development plans.
Shame on Fantino and the rest of the Harper gang for trying to fob off such egregious bullshit as foreign aid, and shame on the good folks at CIDA for playing along with it.
Showing posts with label World Vision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Vision. Show all posts
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Canada retools foreign aid to benefit mining conglomerates
The topic of "foreign aid" has always been fraught with controversy. Harper government initiatives will erase some of the ambiguities about what "aid" should be and who it is aiding.
In the past we have always sought to foster the illusion that our "aid" is intended to help the less fortunate of the world. According to International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino in a speech delivered Friday, that idea is so last century.
Going forward we will use our foreign aid budget to do PR work for Canadian mining companies like Barrick and RioTinto Alcan and Inmet. Canadian tax dollars will go to private sector groups like World Vision to make host communities "investment ready".
Host communities will be selected on the basis of where these mining conglomerates want to develop new projects.
Sounds like a sure-fire win-win for the mining companies and the government.
The government gets to dress up corporate welfare as "foreign aid".
The mining companies get an unnecessary subsidy. Barrick made $4.5 billion last year.
The only losers are the recipients of our largess.
In the past we have always sought to foster the illusion that our "aid" is intended to help the less fortunate of the world. According to International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino in a speech delivered Friday, that idea is so last century.
Going forward we will use our foreign aid budget to do PR work for Canadian mining companies like Barrick and RioTinto Alcan and Inmet. Canadian tax dollars will go to private sector groups like World Vision to make host communities "investment ready".
Host communities will be selected on the basis of where these mining conglomerates want to develop new projects.
Sounds like a sure-fire win-win for the mining companies and the government.
The government gets to dress up corporate welfare as "foreign aid".
The mining companies get an unnecessary subsidy. Barrick made $4.5 billion last year.
The only losers are the recipients of our largess.
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