Good afternoon. Thank you.
My name is Michael Loo, and I am the director of the B.C. Council for International Cooperation. We are a membership-based organization for over 20 B.C. civil society organizations.
We are part of an international campaign called Make Poverty History. I am among the over 225,000 Canadians who signed on to the Make Poverty History campaign, believing it's time for Canada to do its part to end poverty globally and at home.
In my presentation, I will concentrate on two points. The first one is on more and better aid, and the second one is on ending child poverty in Canada.
Globally, 50,000 people die every day from poverty-related causes. It simply does not have to be this way. More and better aid is needed to help end extreme poverty and hunger, to enable every child to attend elementary school, and to create decent jobs.
As many of you know, the UN set a target of 0.7% of gross national income for foreign aid. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an election promise to match the OECD donor performance average, which was 0.42% of gross national income in 2005. We believe it's time for the next federal budget to deliver on this election promise and to meet the 0.7% aid target by 2015.
The Canadian Council for International Cooperation has calculated that Canada could meet the 0.7% aid target by 2015 if there were an increase of 18% in the aid budget. The BCCIC and its members believe its time for the government to increase foreign aid so that we reach both the UN target and the millennium development goals by 2015.
We also need better aid. Canada needs to improve the quality of its aid, focusing on poverty eradication and on the promotion of human rights.
The BCCIC welcomes the passing at second reading of Bill C-293. We applaud the work of Mr. McKay and the bill, which calls for Canadian foreign aid spending to focus on ending poverty.
My last point is this. It's time to end child poverty in Canada. The next federal budget could take a big step towards eliminating child poverty by increasing the maximum child tax benefit to $4,900 per child. It's also time for the federal government to develop a national poverty reduction strategy.
To conclude, it's time to make poverty history. Thank you.