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O 081836Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6876
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UNCLAS OTTAWA 002060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USOECD FOR CHARLES RANDOLPH, PAUL REID, CURTIS STONE 
USOAS FOR BOB MANZANARES 
STATE FOR EEB/EPPD, EEB/ODF, AND S/P 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID KDEM PREL OECD CA
SUBJECT: CANADIAN PARTICIPATION IN PDG STEERING GROUP 
 
REF: STATE 152799 
 
¶1. (SBU) According to Nancy Smyth, Deputy Director of Policy 
Planning at the Department of Foreign Affairs and 
International Trade (DFAIT), DFAIT's Director General for 
Economic Affairs John Sloan will lead Canada's delegation to 
the November 12 Steering Group meeting, joined by Nicole 
Gesnot from Canada's OECD mission.  Smyth expressed 
appreciation for reftel non-paper on PDG Governance Issues 
(which she had seen in an earlier draft).  Smyth commented 
that Canada is positive about the possibilities of the PDG, 
especially the south-south connections, and about bringing in 
"new countries" like Chile rather than an "assembly of the 
usual suspects."  She agreed that, for the PDG to be 
effective, it will be necessary to get the governance piece 
right.  Canada is very interested in how the technical debate 
over governance evolves and is looking for close coordination 
with a few partners to help set the parameters for this 
debate.  Canada is also especially concerned with the 
criteria of countries around the table.  Smyth noted that 
only three have, to date, made real contributions.  The 
Canadian delegation is looking for a real discussion of the 
criteria issue on November 12. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Smyth added that Canada had already given input to 
the drafters of the "informal issues note" but that the 
current version did not reflect its comments.  She noted that 
Chile has been taken out of the document as an explicit 
candidate for co-chair.  Canada agrees with the USG that the 
formula should be "OECD plus a partner," and not "OECD plus 
UNDP."  Smyth confirmed that Canada is "comfortable 
considering Chile," which would reinforce Canada's emphasis 
on the hemisphere.  Chile received unanimous support in its 
accession to OECD and would be a "good fit," Smyth commented. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Smyth said that Canada had not yet made an effort to 
feed information on projects to the PDG Advisory Unit, but 
will consider directing some of its missions to do so.  For 
Canada, what will be most important will be reviewing where 
there is a fit between PDG-proposed projects and its own 
criteria for development support, which the Canadian 
International Development Agency (CIDA) controls "fairly 
tightly."  CIDA will be developing assessment criteria for 
PDG projects over the coming months, she promised. 
 
Visit our shared North American Partnership blog (Canada & Mexico) at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap 
 
WILKINS