The Mcleod Group's Back-to-School Quiz

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While Canada was busy over the summer with long forms, long guns and bed bugs, our government has been busy at work on the international scene. The McLeod Group marks the end of summer with a back-to-school quiz. We’d like to see who’s been paying attention and who still has a sense of humour.

If you score 75% or more, send us an email; we’d like to hear from you. If you score 50% or less, you need to pay closer attention: Canada’s reputation in the world is at stake. And have a look at our expanded website at www.mcleodgroup.ca

  1. Which children’s tale best describes Canada’s foreign policy right now?
    1. The Pied Piper
    2. Sleeping Beauty
    3. The Emperor’s New Clothes
    4. The Ugly Duckling
    5. The Snow Queen
  2. Which children’s nursery rhyme best describes the Canadian International Development Agency right now?
    1. Hey Diddle Diddle
    2. Humpty Dumpty
    3. Simple Simon
    4. Daffy Down Dilly
    5. Ring Around the Rosy
  3. Which of the following visiting leaders took the Conservative government to task within the last 5 months?
    1. Ban Ki-moon
    2. Hilary Clinton
    3. David Miliband
    4. All of the above
  4. The Conservative government cancelled funding for which of the following organizations this fiscal year?
    1. International Planned Parenthood Federation
    2. Kairos
    3. Canadian Council for International Cooperation
    4. Match International
    5. All of the above
  5. Of the above organizations, which one was denied $1.8 million in annual funding—the first major cut in public support in 40 years—resulting in it having to lay off 17 of its 25 employees and put its office building up for sale?
  6. What reason did Minister Oda give in the House for cutting such groups?<
    1. Because they’re a bunch of KIS [postal code] liberals
    2. Because they don’t feed starving children
    3. Because  they’re pro-Palestinian
    4. Because they’re not willing to toady to the Harper government
    5. Because their programs are hard to measure and so they must be  ineffective
  7. How many times has Canada shuffled its foreign policy priorities and development cooperation themes in the past 10 years?
    1. Once
    2. Twice
    3. Three times
    4. Five times
    5. Eight times
  8. Which of the following was this summer’s height of absurdity?
    1. Stephen Harper’s defence of his government’s $1.3 billion spending on security for the G-8 and G-20
    2. Lawrence Cannon’s speech on the important role of civil society at the Community of Democracies Meeting in Krakow July 2-3
    3. The $2-million fake lake at the G-20 in Toronto
    4. The Harper government saying that its get-tough policy on crime was because of a rise in “unreported crime”
    5. The reasons Minister Clement gave for making the long-form census voluntary
  9. How much did Canada commit in March 2010 to rebuilding Haiti over the next two years?
    1. $100 million
    2. $200 million
    3. $300 million
    4. $400 million
    5. $660 million
  10. How much of that commitment had CIDA allocated six months later?
    1. $50million
    2. $75 million
    3. $100 million
    4. $150 million
    5. $250 million
  11. CIDA’s announcement in April 2010 of $178 million in ‘new’ spending for Africa represents…
    1. About the same amount CIDA saved by cutting aid programs to eight poor African countries last year
    2. About 0.01% of the $16 billion the Harper government plans to spend on an un-tendered contract to purchase new fighter jets
    3. Less than 0.01% of the $18.1 billion Canada will have spent on military and related operations in Afghanistan by 2011
    4. Less that it would cost each Canadian taxpayer to buy a Tim’s Ice Cappuccino Supreme
    5. All of the above
  12. What was the Conservative minority government’s official reason for freezing aid to Africa following that announcement?
    1. Waiting to assess the effectiveness of previous aid spending in Africa, which the Harper government claims to have doubled since it took office
    2. Waiting for Godot
    3. Waiting to see which African countries will support Canada’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council
    4. Reaction to an unreported rise in corruption in Africa
    5. Waiting until the cows come home
  13. From which organization did the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation withdraw millions of dollars destined for Africa because of the Conservative-appointed chair’s ties to the tobacco industry?
    1. Canadian Council for International Cooperation
    2. Canadian Institute for Health Information
    3. Canadian Red Cross
    4. Canadian Lung Association
    5. International Development Research Centre
  14. Why did Stephen Harper cross the road?
    1. To pay for renovating a non-smoking US hotel room after one of his ministers lit up some ciggies
    2. To stick it to a Liberal
    3. To stick it to a human rights NGO
    4. To avoid an interview with Lawrence Martin
    5. If you want the answer to this one, you’ll have to apply under the Access to Information Act and wait 12 months
  15. Where does Canada rank in 2010 in relation to 22 OECD donor countries for its commitment to foreign aid as a percentage of its gross national income?
    1. 5th
    2. 8th
    3. 15th
    4. 18th
    5. 20th
  16. Where does Canada rank among G-8 countries with regard to its efforts to curb green-house-gas emissions?
    1. 4th
    2. 5th
    3. 6th
    4. 7th
    5. Last
  17. Where did the World Bank place Canada in terms of aid effectiveness on a list of 37 countries and multilateral agencies in a May 2010 survey?
    1. 4th
    2. 7th
    3. 9th
    4. 14th
    5. 29th
  18. What mechanism did the Harper government use to relax environmental regulations as our U.S. neighbour reeled from a catastrophic oil leak attributed to slack controls?
    1. Divine decree
    2. Omnibus Budget Bill C-9
    3. Order in Council
    4. Replaced the environment Minister with a robot
    5. Increased public funding for the Fraser Institute
  19. Who said, “Stephen Harper and Jim Prentice threaten to do as much damage to [Canada’s] international standing as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney did to that of the United States.”
    1. George Monbiot, writing in The Guardian
    2. Jeffrey Simpson, writing in The Globe and Mail
    3. David Frum, writing in Maclean’s
    4. David Suzuki, writing in his blog
    5. No one; we just made it up
  20. Which Canadian novel title best describes the last session of parliament?
    1. Lost in the Barrens (Mowat)
    2. A Mixture of Frailties (Davies)
    3. The Blind Assassin (Atwood)
    4. Such a Long Journey (Mistry)
    5. Beautiful Losers (Cohen)

Answers: 1. c; 2. b; 3. e; 4. e; 5. c; 6. b; 7. d; 8. your choice; 9. Nobody knows because of all the double counting on the CIDA website; 10. Nobody knows because of repetitive and overlapping announcements by CIDA Minister Bev Oda. According to the CIDA website, it looks like d; 11. e; 12. a; 13. e; 14. e; 15. d?; 16. e; 17. e; 18. b; 19. a; 20. b

The McLeod Group: Working to rebuild Canada’s contribution towards a better world.

For more information on the McLeod Group, go to www.mcleodgroup.ca or contact

Ted Jackson (613)296-9934
Betty Plewes (613) 839-3739