Sunday, April 29, 2012

Victoria Contingent Staying in Touch

The Wet Coast gang met on April 23 rd at the Penny Farthing pub in Oak Bay. Attending were Michael Clark and Jim Ganderton from Salt Spring, Jon Swanson from North Sanich, David Horley and Cecile Latour, passing through, David Roberts, Doug Campbell, Bob Turner, Bill Ross, Vic Lotto, Jim Welsh and Ed Price.

-- Doug Campbell

Saturday, April 28, 2012

The Axe Falleth

Foreign Affairs prepares to cut, diplomatically

Budgetary belt-tightening comes with strategic redeployment

By Greg Weston, CBC News

Posted: Apr 27, 2012 9:53 PM ET

Last Updated: Apr 27, 2012 9:41 PM ET

Article.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Self Service

Though long retired, I still fondly remember when Canadian exporters, real or potential, were the number one concern of Trade Commissioners. Nowadays it looks like the focus of activity is the care and feeding of departmental programs. Here's how trade officers "track" their activity these days.

Welcome to the DFAIT Mission Advocacy Activity Tracker (MAAT)

The MAAT is the reporting tool for the following programs/funds:

Post Initiative Fund (PIF) (GLB)
North America Advocacy (GNB)
Edu-Canada (GLEC)
International Experience Canada (GLEE)
Francophonie (MIL)
Northern Initiative Fund (NIF) (MDA)
Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) (GLB)
Office of Religious Freedom (MIR)
Canadian Leadership Program
Trade Policy and Negotiations (TFM)

UPDATE - the above is mostly for the political program people; trade officers are even more disadvantaged by the TRIO reporting system -- a triumph of nanny-system over substance.