Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Standing Committee on Finance of the House of Commons of Canada, allow me, first, to thank you for this opportunity to appear before you on behalf of Force Leadership Africain as part of your pre-budget consultations for 2021. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Canadian government for the bold and appropriate measures it has taken to support Canadian populations, businesses and communities in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare the country for a robust economic recovery.
Force Leadership Africain, an organization that represents the African diaspora in Canada, was established in 2006. Some of its objectives are as follows: to establish in Canada an African consultation, representation and positive action group on political, economic, trade, cultural, scientific and social issues affecting Africa and Africans; to promote leadership and entrepreneurship within Canada's African communities; and to contribute to the operation of a mutually beneficial partnership between Canada and Africa.
For the purposes of the pre-budget consultations, our organization's main recommendations, which we have already forwarded to you by email, may be summarized as follows: that the government: grant funding to improve the health and welfare of seniors in cooperation with the Canadian provinces; ensure that seasonal farm workers arrive and live in Canada in safe and decent conditions; fight systemic anti-black and anti-indigenous racism; end police brutality against indigenous and black people; create a Canada investment fund for Africa with $1 billion in capital to improve capital availability and finance business and investment projects in Africa, including in the key areas of infrastructure and digital technology; fund African diaspora organizations that aim to promote Canada-Africa business relations; and encourage banks and financial institutions to extend their interest rate reductions on loans and credit cards through the end of 2021.
We therefore welcome the new federal programs designed to combat discrimination, especially the black entrepreneurship program implemented by the Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, Mary Ng. These programs were presented to us at a virtual conference hosted by MP Mr. Emmanuel Dubourg on Friday, December 4. Minister Ng's parliamentary secretary, Ms. Rachel Bendayan, was also in attendance. These programs are actually pointing in the right direction.
As regards Africa more specifically, the Canadian government has clearly expressed its commitment to further strengthening its economic and trade ties with our continent. In the context of this new dynamic, it has also stated that it wants to see the members of the African diaspora get more involved in the development of this new Canada-Africa partnership.
In actual fact, given the new constraints imposed by COVID-19, the cooperation paradigm between Canada and Africa will have to be redefined to respond more effectively to the aspirations of both parties. The Canadian side feels that markets must be diversified and investment risks reduced, while Africans believe new forms of project funding are necessary. Economic activities must also be diversified and the diaspora's involvement in the economy increased.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a threat to global health and the global economy. Considering the enormous gap between the resources that the rich countries have deployed—more than $12 billion—and the near anemic means of the less advanced countries, OECD secretary general Angel Gurria has urgently appealed to the rich countries to triple, and even quadruple, government development assistance to enable the emerging countries to participate effectively in the fight against the pandemic.
Accordingly, we recommend that the Canadian government implement two additional measures: first, introduce a special program to support the recovery of African countries, more particularly to assist them in establishing their own sovereign funds and in supporting the recovery of their SMEs, which constitute 90% of African businesses; and, second, establish, in cooperation with the private sector and multilateral agencies, an investment fund for Africa to spearhead the new Canada-Africa partnership.
These proposed measures are admittedly…