CANIFEX INTERNATIONAL is a private, federally incorporated, non-profit organization. It was founded in Montreal, Canada, with the general aim of working towards improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Canada's co-operative ventures in international development.

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THE MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Eliminating Poverty: Towards a New International Strategy
Montreal, Canada, Spring 2007

Introduction
In their March, 2004 report, Unleashing Entrepreneurship addressed to the United Nations, Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada, and Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico, presented a coherent set of actions by which the private, public and para-public spheres could meet the UN Millennium Development Goals. These goals were to
• eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• achieve universal primary education
• promote gender equality and empower women
• reduce child mortality
• improve maternal health
• combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
• ensure environmental sustainability
• develop a global partnership for development

The proposed Montreal International Conference – organized by the CANIFEX International Socio-economic Development Centre (Canada) and New Federation House (Canada), in collaboration with the Munasinghe Institute for Development (Sri Lanka) – aims to make global prosperity a reality by offering opportunities for participants to share ideas and results, and to build on the commitment of stakeholders in the goal of eliminating world poverty.
The priority issues that were identified within the UN’s poverty eradication program include: (1) improving access to sustainable livelihoods, entrepreneurial opportunities and productive resources; (2) providing universal access to basic social services; (3) progressively developing social protection systems to support those who cannot support themselves; (4) empowering people living in poverty and their organizations; (5) addressing the disproportionate impact of poverty on women; (6) working with interested donors and recipients to allocate increased shares of Official development Assistance (ODA) to poverty eradication; and (7) intensifying international cooperation for poverty eradication.
The proposed three-day conference will challenge participants, government representative, public development institutions, the private sector and non-governmental organizations to share their experience and knowledge in the implementation of practical solutions focusing on poverty.
The conference will play host to approximately one hundred participants and is currently budgeted at $500,000. An initial grant of $100,000 to set up a planning secretariat and research office as well as an information web site will be sought from public and private sector sources to enable preparations to get underway. A detailed budget will be made available.
An Advisory Panel, with representation from the private sector, government and non-government agencies and organizations, will assist in the planning the content of the conference. A pre-conference planning session will be scheduled for October 17, 2006, the United Nations’ International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Issues
The issues related to world poverty are well known in a general sense and include, but are not limited to, the following:

• debt reduction
• government aid
• trade barriers
• technology and innovation
• climate change
• lack of energy resources
• policies of institutions such as World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
• malnutrition and hunger
• diseases and squalid living conditions
• health-care and education
• corruption and misrule
• weapons and military-build-up
• democratic reforms and globalization
• entrepreneurship

Objectives
To develop an international initiative to equitably meet the sustainable prosperity needs of the world’s people as a step towards the elimination of world poverty. The concept of sustainable prosperity includes educational and development goals that, in combination, can improve the quality of life of the world’s poorest people.
The conference will provide a forum in which to consider emerging social, economic and environmental issues with a focus on new ideas related to the causes of poverty, and discuss how solutions can be advanced and applied over the short and medium term.

Process and Outcomes
The project will proceed in three phases.
Phase One is the circulation of three background papers that outline the nature of the provisioning and technological challenges that are foundational to the eradication of poverty and the issues identified earlier. Included in this phase is the development and circulation of a situational analysis which participants will use as a basis from which to propose concrete action to eliminate poverty in a real-world context.
Phase Two consists of conference workshops held over three days in which international experts review and assess the issues and options outlined in the background papers and make recommendations for national and international action based on in-depth discussions of the abovementioned situational analysis. The specific question of how to accelerate innovation for sustainable prosperity and the eradication of poverty will be addressed. The conference proceedings will be distributed via interactive satellite link to major centres around the world.
Phase Three involves the preparation and distribution of the proceedings of the conference and of a report that summarizes the results of the discussions and clearly defines areas of national and international leadership that can make concrete contributions to the eradication of poverty.
A permanent conference facility may emerge to promote ongoing dialogue, communication and action on the theme of “A New International Strategy.” This could mean expanding the virtual network established by the conference, planning a subsequent conference, designing publications (e.g., e-mail newsletters, specialized monographs or magazine articles and interactive learning materials), and the initiation of a project for the eradication of poverty in a specific locality.

Conference Format

Day 1:
Introductory Remarks (plenary)
Keynote Address (plenary)
Discussion Groups on Economic Issues
CAPABILITIES AND RESOURCES TO ELIMINATE POVERTY
Luncheon Address (plenary)
Preliminary Discussion of Situational Analysis (plenary)

Day 2:
Discussion Groups on Social Issues 1
CREATING ENABLING INTERNATIONAL STUCTURES TO ELIMINATE POVERTY
Luncheon Address (plenary)
Discussion Groups on Social Issues 2
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS TO ELIMINATE POVERTY
Second Discussion of Situational Analysis

Day 3:
Discussion Groups on Environmental Issues
CREATING AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT TO ELIMINATE POVERTY
Luncheon Address (plenary)
Concluding Discussion of Situational Analysis and Recommendations for Action (plenary)
Closing Dinner Address (plenary)
Presentation of the Conference Achievement Awards for the Elimination of Poverty

Conference Co-Chairs
(to be confirmed)

Advisory Panel
(to be announced)

Conference Secretariat

Vice Chairs
Gerald C. Gummersell, Chairman & Managing Director, The Gummersell Group Inc; Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Canifex International Socio-economic Development Centre Inc.; Member, Distinguished Advisory Council of the Munasinghe Institute for Development; Co-founder and Chairman of the Institute for Educational Resources; Director, New Federation House; Founding Member and first President of the Corporate Higher Education Forum.
Jean Chevrier, Attorney; Co-founder and President of New Federation House; Former professor of Canadian Political History and International Relations, University of Ottawa; Former Legal Counsel for the federal Justice Department and the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime in Montreal; Director, Institute for Educational Resources; Former Advisor to the Right Honourable Joseph Clark and the Right Honourable Robert Stanfield..

Directors
Dr. Mohan Munasinghe, Chairman, Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND), Colombo, Sri Lanka
Vice Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Geneva; Director, Canifex International Socio-economic Development Centre Inc.; Visiting Professor, United Nations University, Tokyo; Former Senior Advisor, World Bank
Denis Daigneault, Education Advisor, Dawson College, Montreal; Co-founder and vice-president of New Federation House; Director, Canifex International Socio-economic Development Centre Inc.; Co-founder and President, Institute for Educational Resources; Former Educational Media Produced, National Film Board of Canada

Conference Coordinators
(to be announced)

 

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Revised 16 May 2006