Last Friday, International Cooperation Minister Julian Fantino outlined his vision for CIDA’s future in an address to the Economic Club of Canada. He spoke of a profound shift towards the private sector, particularly mining companies, and of more explicit work to promote Canada’s interests abroad. The same week, a confidential draft document on Canadian foreign policy was severely criticized by opposition MPs, human rights experts and former diplomats. Thomas Mulcair said in the Commons that “the Conservatives’ new foreign policy plan, crafted in secret, includes no vision for human rights, no vision for peace and security, no vision for aid and international development, no vision for Canada as an even-handed leader on the world stage.”

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