Canada, Africa, and the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany

Dear Prime Minister,

Regarding Canada's participation in this year's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, June 6-8. Africa's issues with development are on the table, and I believe Canada can play a significant role:

• Enabling sustainable economic growth in Africa by improving economic policies,
debt, and strengthening local markets and businesses;
• Promoting democracy by supporting African institutions that foster citizen participation;
• Establishing peace and security by strengthening the peace building and conflict-
abilities of African regional organizations;
• Fighting disease by strengthening national health systems, improving AIDS prevention
treatment, and designing programs to retain African doctors and nurses.

I call upon you and our government for Canada to work unilaterally and as a mediator between the other nations:

Canada must renew its promise to double aid to Africa by 2008-2009 by creating a timetable for increasing our official development assistance to 0.7% of gross national income.

The AIDS pandemic may be the greatest crisis of all. Seventy-five percent of the world’s 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS are in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit promised universal access to HIV treatment by 2010, but is falling short of this goal.

Canada can work towards the creation of a comprehensive plan to address the health crisis by increasing funding for prevention and treatment programs, strengthening infrastructure, retaining local health-care workers, and improving management and access to information. At the same time, Canada can guide the G8 to ensure that such broad approaches do not let donors influence national policy-making in ways that citizens cannot.

Furthermore, Canada can use its experience as a major food-producing and resource-rich nation to advise the G8 summit to find ways to strengthen regional markets in Africa that support local agriculture and food supplies. We must also advocate for stronger corporate responsibility guidelines for international mining companies, and trade laws that allow developing countries to stabilize their economies by regulating imports and exports and setting environmental standards.

There are also significant problems with the debt cancellation agreement signed at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit. Very few countries are eligible, and those that are must agree to a set of harsh conditions from the World Band and International Monetary Fund (IMF) that have already been shown to worsen poverty. Canada must live up to the spirit of Gleneagles and support full, unconditional debt cancellation for 62 of the world’s poorest countries so they can redirect their resources towards health, education, and economic development on their own terms.

Sincerely,

Peter Ladage
Midland, Ontario

with information from make poverty history