Good evening, honourable members.
I am Edidiong. I'm also here with the ONE organization. I have a short statement.
I'm here today on behalf of over two-thirds of Canadians who believe that it's our responsibility to help others around the world. Sadly, Canada's contribution to international assistance has been in steep decline. At its current rate of 0.26% of ODA to GNI, Canada is lagging far behind our closest friends and allies in the G7 and OECD. All of this is despite Canada's support for The Global Fund, additional investments to girls' education and the increases in budget 2018, which were very effective and wonderful.
These were important first steps, but we are still not doing our fair share. I am here today to call on the Government of Canada to finally increase Canada's spending on global development over 10 years, through predictable 15% annual increases to the international assistance envelope, starting in fiscal year 2019.
Thank you.