Both meetings this week were only one hour and only heard from one witness. On the 28th the committee went in camera to discuss committee business with the extra hour. On March 26th, the committee met with Carlo Dade, Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. He spoke to the committee about the value he has seen in private-public partnerships in the development of countries. Mr. Dade viewed the current partnerships positively and noted that it was extremely difficult for smaller companies to enter into the same types of arrangements with CIDA due to their lack of influence. He also spoke about the importance of diaspora communities and remittances in funding developing countries. Mr. Dade spoke very highly of such efforts and suggested that Canada spend more to study the effects and scale of diaspora communities within Canada.
On March 28th, the committee met with Dr. Sabrine Luning from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands via teleconference. Like many witnesses who have testified before committee recently she also spoke about the dangers of public private partnerships in blurring the line between local government responsibility and the role of the mining companies. Dr. Luning especially stressed how important it was for local governments and non-governmental organizations to take an active role in development goals, rather than leaving them to mining companies alone. After hearing from Dr. Luning the committee moved in camera to discuss the future business of the committee.