Foreign policy of the Stephen Harper government will contribute $111 million while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will commit an additional $28 million. As the economic level of the People's Republic of China progressed rapidly during the 1990s, the Canadian government concluded several economic and partnership deals with the country. However, when the Conservative government took power in 2006, relations between the two had changed most notably due on the question of human rights in the People's Republic of China in which the Conservative government had criticized its records. Meanwhile, President Hu Jintao criticized Canada for making the Dalai-Lama an honorary citizen and to make several
Hu Jintao the curtailing of freedom of speech drew extensive criticism from human rights organizations and Western governments, while artists and writers inside the country chided increased restrictions on cultural expressions during Hu's term. Although in the early years of his tenure Hu attempted to pioneer a form of "intraparty democracy" that called for greater participation from lower-ranked members to determine policy and select the leadership, there was little evidence of meaningful changes to the party's governing structure and decision-making process. Consensus-based decision-making became a hallmark of the Hu era. Hu was never a strongman, did not rule by fiat, and was