Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this afternoon on your last day of hearings.
I'd like to join with other colleagues to commend you on the broad consultation process that has taken place this year during the pre-budget consultations. Wearing various hats, I have been making these presentations to the Standing Committee on Finance for longer than I care to remember, and I'm glad to see a fulsome and robust consultation process back in place.
I have two or three points to make. First, I'm issuing a plea to this committee to urge our government to take advantage of the unprecedented opportunity that's posed by Canada's hosting of the G-8 and G-20 meetings in June 2010. The Muskoka summit should be used as an opportunity for Canada to regain its position as an international leader on human rights and health. It's also an opportunity for Canada to take a strong position and finally put together a timetable to reach its often-pledged commitment to apply 0.7% of GNI—gross national income—to official development assistance. Someone earlier talked about the perfect storm. Well, there's a convergence of opportunities here.
This year alone, we've seen the aid accountability act covered. We are looking at providing all official development assistance focused on poverty reduction in a manner that's consistent with international human rights standards. I nod to the Honourable John McKay, who shepherded this remarkable piece of legislation through the House.
We have also seen pledges over and over again to commit 0.7% of GNI. It's time to set a timetable. We are one of six development assistance committee member countries that have not committed to a timetable to reach 0.7%. We are going to host what is probably the most important leaders summit in history, where the G-20 and the G-8 will have meetings together in Canada, which will be co-hosted by Canada and South Korea, in an attempt to reshape the structures that are making important decisions about global development in the midst of this economic crisis.
As well as Canada's commitment to increasing aid, I want to talk about Canada taking a leadership position on an issue that is shameful for the international community; that is, the neglect of women in the developing world who die or are badly injured due to pregnancy complications. Fifteen hundred women die each and every day due to preventable maternal mortality from causes that we well know how to address. As I'm sure my colleagues can tell you, in Canada there is a very low rate of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth. This year in June the international community condemned preventable maternal mortality as a human rights violation, and declared that women have the right to life, to health, and to equality, as well as the right to receive and impart information. It is unconscionable that it has taken fifteen years for the international human rights mechanisms to take this on as an issue.
Canada could take a lead on this issue during the G-8 and G-20. It gained some attraction during the last G-8 meeting in Italy in June, and it could be a way to reach that millennium development goal number five in a way that was unimaginable even two or three years ago. So I would ask that the finance committee take this on board, make these financial and policy recommendations to the government, and see Canada regain its position as a leader in the international community.
Thank you.