Mr. Speaker, I am very honoured to table petitions signed by hundreds of Canadians as part of the signature of hope petition, sponsored by the Beads of Hope Campaign through the United Church of Canada.
The petitioners are concerned about the fact that we are dealing with a global HIV-AIDS pandemic. They would like leadership from this country and this government.
They specifically call upon Parliament to do the following: use its influence in the international financial institutions to cancel multilateral debt of impoverished countries; to increase Canada's official development assistance to meet the goal of 0.7% of GDP, or gross national income; to ensure that patents or trade related intellectual property rights do not block access to public goods, like life saving medicines; and finally, to double funding to the federal government's domestic program, the Canadian strategy on HIV and AIDS to address HIV and AIDS in Canada.