You make a good point, sir, about the question of affordability. If Canada does not now reinvest in aid spending when it is so eminently affordable, when on earth will it do so? And it does go directly to the credibility not only of the Prime Minister, but also of the Government of Canada--and the credibility of Canada itself.
In the year 2000, world leaders used a uniquely powerful phrase with respect to the millennium development goals. The phrase they used was that they engaged between each other to “spare no effort” to achieve the millennium development goals. That is an unambiguously committed phrase. Since that time, since 2000, new aid spending in Canada is about $2 billion. Not more than 30% of that amount can be said to be identifiable as a contribution towards achieving the millennium development goals. So we have, with respect to the money already committed, not anything close to “sparing no effort”.
We have, I think--and Canadians increasingly recognize this--nothing in the performance of either the previous government or the current one that would give confidence to the idea that Canada is committed to grow its contribution to the 0.7% target, though one finance committee after the other has pleaded with the government to do so. And members of all parties have voted for those resolutions.