Advocacy Topics for CAIDC

Hi Pamela; With respect to the agenda, I would like to see two issues added to the agenda as general points of discussion of issues that might be included in the coming year's lobbying agenda with the federal government. 1. The first issue pertains to health care. The Canadian Government, as well as the Provinces, support a foreign policy which is designed to assist the least developed nations and emerging economies of the world...but it is not the Canadian government who actually goes overseas on long-term contracts to fulfill Canada's commitment to our partner nations and be a part of the matrix of services provided by the international development community. It's guys like me that go to the far away places for six-months or up to two years of time or longer to help these nations. The Canadian expats that work overseas always take much higher health risks than they would if they were staying home. The care that one can expect to receive in an African country (except for South Africa) comes nowhere close to what we can expect in Canada. The chance of injury and potential long-term illness are significant. In Southern Africa there are new strains of tuberculosis that are drug resistent. Treatment for a car accident is highly risky. Some, who are among this group of experts who work overseas, who are at the very height of their expertise are also ageing. I am such a person. I need to have my knees replaced. I would like to see CAIDC lobby the Canadian government for automatic, uninterrupted health coverage for every Canadian expat who is serving in international development overseas. The fact that I am a Canadian who is in the field, whether it is as a CIDA co-operant, working for the UN or World Bank, or another international development organisation like AUSAID, the minute I am back in Canada I should have full rights to health care. I can't afford to wait six-months to have it reinstated. I need to be able to arrange for crucial surgery like getting my knees replaced by seeing specialists at sometime while I am in Canada and then being able to return when the operation is scheduled. I frequently pay taxes which are the highest in the land because of the tax bracket I am in but do not get the benefit of protection. 2. I would like to see CAIDC enter into discussions with the Federal and Provincial Tax Authorities on several issues. The first one concerns expatriate specialists who take on assignments in high-risk countries, that would be deemed to be so by DFAIT. We need specialists to go to places like Afghanistan, Darfur in Sudan, Sri Lanka...as well as places where the health risks and the security risks are high. I just went for an interview for a job in Port Moresby, PNG. It was ranked as the most dangerous capital in the world after Baghdad. I think there should be special incentives that would permit those assignments as tax free. Taking a chance that you will get your ass shot off, or blown up, or injured or maimed for life is no small matter. Some places it is almost impossible to get insurance coverage. I think the Government of Canada should step in and provide full-insurance coverage for any country where it is impossible to get insurance or to cover the costs of such insurance. When the Canadian government bent over backward to help dual citizen Lebanese Canadians get out during the last Israeli-Lebanese war, I would like to think that they would devote as much or more attention to those individuals and I include the all military ranks and civilian staff, DFAIT and CIDA employees in this type of special coverage and tax-free status. It gauls me to have to fight with the tax authorities over foreign assignments and taxes, like the situation when I did an assignment in Sri Lanka. The International Tax Authorities deemed me to be non-resident, which meant I should have paid taxes in Sri Lanka...but which were waived because it was an ADB contract. Along comes the Quebec Provincial Government which says it doesn't have dual tax treaties with any other country and because I didn't pay taxes in Sri Lanka I owe them a big wack of money. I don't mind paying a reasonable amount of tax but there needs to be a great deal more flexibility. I have to go to all the trouble of putting my house up for rent, moving my stuff into storage, paying insurance on this or shipping it overseas. The administration and tax headaches are a nightmare. I think people who work in international development should be treated differently because they end up giving up a lot to do this work overseas. I bet if you were to look at the rate of divorce, health issues, interruptions for work suspended as happened to me this year, outbreaks of conflict and the like, robery and personal threats of violence in some countries like Kenya and South Africa and PNG that should be recognised. The government gives major tax benefits to people who invest in Labour Funds which support business growth in this country. The only thing those people are risking are their hard earned dollars to get a tax reduction with the possibility that those investments will provide them with a significant return. They are not putting their lives on the line. Whether the Canadian government would be willing to support this policy for DFAIT, CIDA staff and expatriate experts or not...at the very least I think they should be providing tax relief to the soldiers and people working in places like Khandahar. The rank and file of the Canadian military are the people who are putting their lives on the line as well as the happiness of their families. We as a country should be recognising that kind of sacrifice. Well there you have the gist of what I would like added to the lobbying/policy agenda for 2008. Thanks amigo. William