Aid

Aid remains an important source of foreign finance for many countries. The CDI takes account of both aid quantity through their share of national income given as ODA; and of aid quality through their scores in the Quality of Official Development Assistance – QuODA exercise.

Canada’s aid performance

• Rank: 9

Strengths

• Providing timely and comparative information about aid spending
• Membership in the International Aid Transparency Initiative
• Strong commitment to evaluation and learning
• Small share of tied aid 

• Low aid volume as a share of the economy 

Trade

International trade has been a force for economic development for centuries. The CDI measures trade barriers in rich countries against exports from developing countries. It also penalizes costly importation processes and restrictions against purchasing services from foreigners.

Canada’s trade performance

• Rank: 11

Strengths

• Low agricultural subsidies
• No tariffs on rice
• Low tariffs on sugar
• Low tariffs on vegetables, fruits and nuts
• Few days to import a shipping container 

• High tariffs on meat products
• High tariffs on wheat
• High tariffs on dairy
• High cost to import a shipping container 

Finance

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can promote economic growth, help spread technologies, skills, and create jobs. Conversely, policies that permit secrecy can facilitate illicit activities and financial flows abroad. The CDI rewards policies that support healthy investment in developing countries and promote transparency in financial transactions at home as well as globally.

Canada’s finance performance

• Rank: 12

Strengths

• Political risk insurance agency provides wide coverage and screens potential projects for violations of human, labor and environmental rights
• Active participation and leadership in extractive industries transparency initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Kimberley Process on blood diamonds
• Vigorous prosecution of home-country bribe payers
• Provides assistance to companies looking for investment opportunities in developing countries

• Scores below average in the Financial Secrecy Index for having few regulations in place to prevent illicit financial transactions within its jurisdiction 

Migration

Allowing people to move from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. It also increases the flow of money migrants send home abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return. The CDI also rewards countries for enabling students from developing countries to study at their universities, and for sharing the burden of refugees and asylum seekers. 

Canada’s migration performance

• Rank: 3

Strengths

• Large number of immigrants from developing countries entering Canada 
• Large share of foreign students from developing countries 

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources while poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration. The CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries, and biodiversity, all of which affect the lives of those far beyond one country’s borders.

Canada’s environment performance

• Rank: 27

Strengths

• Low tropical timber imports
• Ratification of UN agreement on fisheries

Weaknesses

• High greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel production per capita
• Has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change
• Low gas taxes
• High fishing subsidies
• Poor compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity 

Security

Since security is a prerequisite for development, the CDI rewards contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping operations and forcible humanitarian interventions, military protection of global sea lanes, and participation in international security treaties. It penalizes arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments.

Canada’s security performance

• Rank: 14

Strengths

• Low arms exports to poor and undemocratic governments

Weaknesses

• Has not ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM)
• Low personnel and financial contributions to internationally-sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade

Technology

Rich countries contribute to development through the creation and dissemination of new technologies. The CDI accounts for this by rewarding government support for research and development (R&D) and penalizing strong intellectual property rights regimes that limit the dissemination of new technologies to poor countries.

Canada’s technology performance

• Rank: 14

Strengths

• High tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D
• Patent holders are required to license to meet social needs
• Does not offer patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain 
• Patent exceptions for research purposes

• Low government expenditure on R&D
• No revocation of patents for discontinued working