Mr. Speaker, in the area of international co-operation, the last budget was a big disappointment, in spite of the expectations that had been generated.
After talking about a significant increase in the budgets for international assistance in the last throne speech, after boasting about Canada's reputation in the area of international co-operation, after announcing the debt reduction program for the poorest countries, the government has precious little to show for.
It refuses to explain how it intends to achieve the target of 0.7% of the GDP in development assistance, set by the UN.
The increase barely maintains Canada's current level of assistance at 0.27% of the GDP. The ratio was 0.42% when the Liberals took office in 1993-94.
The budget does not specify how the government will follow up on its commitment to eliminate the debt of the poorest countries in the world.
The last budget does nothing to restore Canada's reputation in the area of official development assistance.
Like many things here in this parliament, this is disappointing.