According to statements by Paul Martin, our economy is doing so well that Canada is now too rich to meet a long-standing target for helping poor children escape poverty. This official explanation for why Canada’s new International Policy Statement does not include a plan to move from 0.3 per cent of gross national income (GNI) to 0.7% of GNI for foreign aid is a lame excuse.

It is unacceptable to the children dying from preventable diseases, to other governments that Canada wants to influence, and to Canadians who show their generosity in good times and bad to organizations, like World Vision, fighting poverty around the world.

The problem goes deeper. Canada’s plan to have influence in the world rests on a four-legged stool: commerce, diplomacy, defense, and development. While the first three chapters look ahead and set goals, the development chapter lacks vision and goals.

The development chapter is the weak leg of the stool, endangering the effectiveness of the other three. One example of its failure to provide leadership is ignoring the importance of agriculture as a development priority when two-thirds of the world’s poor depend on agriculture. As the report acknowledges, global trade and international security depend on reducing the growing gap between the people who live on less than $1 a day and wealthy nations that benefit from globalization.

World Vision Canada appreciates the government’s general shift to invest more resources in international affairs, including the plans to put more diplomats in the field to respond faster to emergencies and to focus on peace building in troubled areas.

There are, however, a number of other areas where World Vision proposes improvements, including the following:

• Make food security and fair trade for poor producers a top priority in trade rules.
• Clarify the roles of civilian aid agencies and the military in the new integrated approach to emergency response.
• Integrate human rights, including the rights of children, into Canada’s own policies, as well as working to strengthen the UN Human Rights Council.
• Develop a clear strategy for co-operation with Canada’s many non-governmental agencies.
• Act immediately to end the debt trap. At the next G8 meeting, Canada should facilitate agreement from G8 leaders about financing plans to ensure that poor countries can use debt repayment money to meet the most urgent health and education needs of children.

Hopefully, there will be a healthy public debate about Canada’s priorities and international plans. We have a chance to make poverty history before 2015—that should be our top priority.

Dave Toycen
President
World Vision Canada

World Vision is an international Christian humanitarian relief and development organization, working in more than 90 countries helping approximately 85 million people each year.