Mexico was a wakeup call,'' says Bill Graham, the Toronto Liberal MP who chaired the parliamentary committee that made 20 recommendations to the government in a unanimous all-party report. They include redefining the mandates of the Bretton Woods institutions. Some IFIs are notoriously secretive - ''more than the CIA,'' he says. There's also a need for frugality. This fiasco led to the president's resignation.
Restraints are now in place.
All IFIs must be made more publicly accountable and subject to outside scrutiny. The committee recommends a system of independent audits, and wants more timely, more adequate information given to parliaments. Another priority is to redefine their mandates, reduce overlap, eliminate bureaucratic competition. The IMF now does some of the things the World Bank was set up to do and vice versa. The fight over turf can be ferocious.