barrick exec with tory ties appointed to idrc board

5/31/2015 Barrick exec with Tory ties appointed to IDRC board | Embassy - Canada's Foreign Policy Newspaper

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Appointments, including Barrick Golds vice president of government affairs, allow board tomeet after months of being unable to do so.

The Hill Times Photo: Jake WrightCanadian Council of Chief Executives head John Manley, former prime minister and current Barrickinternational advisory board chair Brian Mulroney, Barrick founder Peter Munk, and former foreign ministerand current Barrick international advisory board member John Baird, pictured in 2012.

Kristen ShanePublished: Thursday, 04/09/2015 12:00 am EDTLast Updated: Tuesday, 04/14/2015 6:52 pm EDT

The government has appointed a mining industry executive who is a former Conservativeministers staffer to the board of a Crown corporation that works on international developmentresearch.

International Development Minister ChristianParadis recommended the appointment ofBarrick Gold Corp. vice president of governmentaffairs Alanna Heath to the board of governors ofthe International Development Research Centre.

Ms. Heath worked as a policy adviser to JimFlaherty from 2007 to 2009 when he was finance

minister. She joined Barrick as director of government relations in early 2010, according to aBloomberg report.

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The government also appointed Scott Gilmore, Macleans magazine columnist and president ofAnchor Chain, a business that helps connect small businesses in developing countries toinvestment and international supply chains. Mr. Gilmore is a former Canadian diplomat and wasalso appointed to the governments external advisory group on the merger of the foreign affairsand trade department with the Canadian International Development Agency in 2013, creating theDepartment of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.

Some foreign-aid policy watchers say the appointments show the government wants to fill theboard with allies, not independent researchers. They decry the lack of non-Canadians on theboard and say Ms. Heaths appointment is further evidence of the Harper governments close tieswith the extractive industry.

The appointments let the IDRC board of governors meet again. With eight of 14 board seats empty,it didnt have enough members, according to its governing legislation, to hold a formal meetingsince Feb. 10.

A board meeting scheduled for March 24 and 25 was pushed to March 30 and 31. The appointmentsof Ms. Heath and Mr. Gilmore were made on March 26. Their terms are meant to last three years.

Quorum problems cleared up, barely

It was the third time in as many years that the IDRC board of governors had been left withoutenough members to meet to oversee the organizations finances and governance. It approved theorganizations 2015-16 budget at that March meeting, just as a new fiscal year was about to begin.

While observers say theyre happy the board can meet again, they point out that its at the bareminimum. There are still six vacancies, including that of the chair.

The appointments, wrote University of Ottawa professor Stephen Brown in an email, reflect theCanadian governments decision to fill the board with alliespeople who have worked closely withDFATDrather than independent researchers, especially those from developing countries, as hasbeen the case in the past.

Canadian-only board

All eight board members either work for a Canadian-government affiliated institution or used totwo in a political role, and the rest as civil servants.

While Mr. Gilmore worked for the Canadian government once, his appointment could be valuablebecause he brings other experience as a social entrepreneur, saidLiam Swiss, an assistantprofessor in the sociology department at Memorial University who studies foreign aid.

When the IDRC started in 1970 to fund research in the developing world on the problems poorcountries face, just over half of its board was meant to be filled by Canadians, and the remainingspots ensured that the perspective and experience from developing and other countries wererepresented, according to an internal history document.

Members from Egypt, the United States, Jamaica and China have had their terms expire in the lastcouple years, leaving the board with only Canadian representatives (one member is a highcommissioner posted to India).

I think the intent of the board, having that international composition was such that the IDRC, eventhough it is a Canadian Crown corporation, was meant to serve broad development researchinterests and not just a specific Canadian agenda, said Mr. Swiss in a phone interview. So having aboard of governors that is purely Canadian and one that is very closely linked to our trade anddiplomatic interests I think really goes against the spirit of that legislation establishing the centreas a body.

In response, a spokesperson for the international development minister said the same thing adepartmental spokesperson said before the two Canadians appointments.

DFATD appreciates the importance of an international perspective on operations and will keepthis consideration in mind when considering future appointments, wrote Louis Longchamps in anemail.

Patronage, or public-private partnership?

Mr. Swiss said Ms. Heaths appointment is in keeping with this governments use of the IDRCboard as a patronage appointment piece. He referred to former Harper government ministerMonte Solbergs board job as acting chair.

Ms. Heath met with lawmakers in 2010 as part of Barricks work to kill a bill requiring thegovernment to investigate any alleged human rights violations by Canadian mining companiesabroad, Bloomberg reported.

Aid watchers have criticized the governments foreign-aid work in recent years for being tooclosely linked to the private sector, and especially mining companies, which they see as muddyingcorporate interests with those of the poor.

Former foreign minister John Baird recently joined the international advisory board of Barrick, oneof the worlds biggest gold miners. Mr. Brown noted that DFATD under Mr. Baird has committed

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of the worlds biggest gold miners. Mr. Brown noted that DFATD under Mr. Baird has committedmillions of dollars for a project led by the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University ofToronto. The schools financial backers include, and namesake is, Barrick founder Peter Munk. Thecompany also partnered with the government and World Vision Canada on an aid project in Peru.

But Ms. Heaths experience in both the Canadian private and public sector makes her the idealcandidate for the IDRC board job, said Barrick spokesperson Andy Lloyd in an emailed response toquestions.

She has first-hand experience with many of the social, economic and environmental challengesfacing communities in the developing world today, and she understands how the public and privatesectors can work together to achieve better development outcomes, he wrote.

When she worked in the government. Ms. Heath was an international policy adviser. She is on theboard of the Canada Pakistan Business Council and the Canadian Council on Africa.

The IDRC released its 2015-20 strategic plan on April 1, which makes working with the privatesector a priority. Public-private partnerships in development often produce more sustainableoutcomes than any one group working in isolation, said Mr. Lloyd.

Meanwhile, the 2015-16 main estimates, planned government spending, project a drop in IDRCfunding from $202 million in 2013-14 to $183 million in the coming year.

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@kristenshane1

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barrick exec with tory ties appointed to idrc board

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