CANADA WON'T SUPPORT OAS QUOTA PAYMENT INCREASE

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000713 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AFIN ABUD AORC USOAS SUBJECT: CANADA WON'T SUPPORT OAS QUOTA PAYMENT INCREASE REF: STATE 50110 Embassy delivered reftel talking points to Alison Benn, OAS coordinator in the Inter-American Division of DFAIT's Latin America and Caribbean Bureau, on March 4. Benn told poloff at that time that the question of increasing Canada's OAS quota payment had not yet been discussed at DFAIT. In a follow-up discussion March 14, Benn advised poloff that Canada will not support an OAS quota payment increase at this time. Benn said that Canada wants to see greater accountability on OAS's part. She indicated that before Canada would agree a quota increase is necessary, it would have to do further research to identify what OAS costs are increasing, and why they are increasing. (Note: in an off-the-record comment, Benn (please protect) said she found it ironic that Brazil and the U.S. were leading this effort, as they had been in arrears on their OAS assessments. End note.) CELLUCCI