Canada

Aid

Aid quality is just as important as aid quantity, so the CDI measures gross aid as a share of GDP adjusted for various quality factors: it subtracts debt service, penalizes “tied” aid that makes recipients spend aid only on donor goods and services, rewards aid to poor but relatively well-governed recipients, and penalizes overloading poor governments with many small projects.

• Score: 4.2
• Rank: 12

• Large amount of private charitable giving attributable to tax policy (rank by share of GDP: 2)

• Allows project proliferation; small average project size (rank: 20)

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.

• Score: 6.7
• Rank: 4

• Low agricultural subsidies (equivalent to a tariff of 10.0% of the value of imports; rank: 10)
• Low tariffs on non-agricultural commodities (2.3% of the value of imports; rank: 2)

• High tariffs on agricultural commodities (21.9% of the value of imports; rank: 18)

Investment

Rich-country investment in poorer countries can transfer technologies, upgrade management and create jobs. The CDI includes a checklist of policies that support healthy investment in developing countries.

• Score: 6.1
• Rank: 4

• Provides insurance against political risk for both domestic and foreign firms
• Employs tax-sparing arrangements to prevent double taxation of corporate profits earned abroad
• Particularly active in the G-8 Anti-Corruption and Transparency Action Plan and in the Kimberley Initiative on blood diamonds
• Allows pension fund investments in emerging markets

• Political risk insurance also given to inefficient, import-substituting projects

Migration

The movement of people from poor to rich countries provides unskilled immigrants with jobs, income and knowledge. This increases the flow of money sent home by migrants abroad and the transfer of skills when the migrants return home.

• Score: 6.2
• Rank: 6

• Bears large share of the burden of refugees during humanitarian crises (rank: 7)
• Large share of foreign students from developing countries (86%; rank: 4)

• Tuition for foreign students higher than for nationals

Environment

Rich countries use a disproportionate amount of scarce resources, and poor countries are most vulnerable to global warming and ecological deterioration, so the CDI measures the impact of policies on the global climate, fisheries and biodiversity.

• Score: 3.4
• Rank: 21

• Low tropical wood imports ($3.97 per person; rank: 1)

• Low gas taxes ($0.35 per liter; rank: 21)
• High fishing subsidies ($10.00 per person; rank: 22)
• High greenhouse gas emissions rate per capita (20.2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank: 21)
• Poor compliance with mandatory reporting requirements under multilateral environmental agreements relating to biodiversity (rank: 20)
• High fossil fuel production rate per capita (27.7 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent; rank 20)

Security

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

• Score: 5.3
• Rank: 9

• Small financial and personnel contributions to internationally sanctioned peacekeeping and humanitarian interventions over last decade (rank by share of GDP: 12)
• Low levels of protection of global sea lanes

Technology

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

• Score: 5.7
• Rank: 9

• No attempt to incorporate into bilateral free trade agreements “TRIPS-Plus” measures that would restrict the flow of innovations to developing countries
• High tax subsidy rate to businesses for R&D (rank: 4)
• Does not offer patent-like proprietary rights to developers of data compilations, including those assembled from data in the public domain

• Low government expenditure on R&D (rank by share of GDP: 18)