Mr. Speaker, I welcome the question although I find it absolutely shocking to think that the secretary of state would not be aware of what the NDP's long time policy has been with respect to overseas development assistance.
Let me make it very clear. The first plank in that priority platform would be to do what the government has steadfastly refused to do, and that is to move decisively and dramatically in the direction of restoring overseas development aid to .7% of the GDP. This was a commitment made by the government when it sought office, yet it has brought us an unprecedented reduction of overseas development assistance, down I believe to .25% of our GDP. That is unbelievable. This is less than one-third of what the Liberal government said it would do and far less than what many countries in the world, which are a great deal poorer than Canada, have long implemented in their respective budgets.