News Releases
November 14, 2005 - No Plan for World’s Poor: Economic and Fiscal Update Ignores Poverty Issues
November 14, 2005 - Barenaked Ladies Lead Charge: Make Poverty History Targets WTO
October 13, 2005 - Make Poverty History Day of Action to End Child Poverty in Canada
September 16, 2005 - Prime Minister Fails to Announce a Canadian Plan for More and Better Aid
September 10, 2005 - International Day of Action to Help Make Poverty History
August 31, 2005 - Poverty may be off the agenda at the United Nations Summit
July 8, 2005 - Make Poverty History Canada at the G8 Summit
July 2, 2005 - Live 8 Concert Set to Rock the World and Pressure World Leaders
July 1, 2005 - International Day of Action to Help Make Poverty History
June 24, 2005 - Make Poverty History offers Live 8 tickets for best campaign events
June 21, 2005 - Make Poverty History Welcomes Live 8 Concert Announcement
April 28, 2005 - Make Poverty History launches cross-Canada celebrity ad campaign
April 28, 2005 - Vancouver church challenges all buildings to wear a big white band
February 23, 2005 - Goodale Budget Mixed Bag for Poor at Home and Abroad
February 11, 2005- Campaign Launched to Make Poverty History
February 2, 2005 - G7 Finance Ministers can help Make Poverty History
News Release
For immediate release: November 14, 2005
No Plan for World’s Poor
Economic and Fiscal Update Ignores Poverty Issues
Finance Minister Ralph Goodale dubbed his Budget Update a “Plan for Growth and Prosperity”. Unfortunately no plan was outlined for growth and prosperity for the world’s poor.
“This government could have used the economic update to show it was serious about ending global poverty,” says Gerry Barr President-CEO of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC) and Co-Chair of Make Poverty History.” What we needed to see was a timetable for reaching 0.7% of GNI the international agreed to figure for aid spending. Instead we got nothing. There was no mention of foreign aid. No mention of how Canada would meet its international commitments to ending poverty.”
CCIC and Make Poverty History are calling for 15 % annual increases to foreign aid spending through to 2015. Canada would, with this plan, reach the 0.7% target by 2015. The plan is more than affordable requiring only 8% of the forecasted budget surplus up to 2010, as outline in today’s Economic and Fiscal Update.
This government, the Prime Minister and even Goodale in his presentation today said that Canada is “prepared, determined and equipped to take its place as never before in the world’s markets and on the global stage.”
“Until there is a concrete plan outlining how Canada will meet its obligations to the world’s poor, those words are nothing more than hollow gestures,” says Barr. “We’ve heard the talk from this government. But when it came time to act it failed.”
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For more information:
Katia Gianneschi
Make Poverty History
(613) 241-7007 ext. 311
media@makepovertyhistory.ca