Mr. Speaker, around the world, hundreds of millions of children are forced to work dangerous jobs so they and their families can survive. These tasks put children's health, safety and their very lives in jeopardy.
Today, people from every part of the globe are participating in World Day Against Child Labour to end this shame. This year the focus is on eliminating child labour in agriculture where nearly 70% of child workers are found. Over 132 million children toil from sunrise to sunset on farms sowing and harvesting crops and spreading dangerous pesticides.
Canada cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this exploitation. We are part of an international community and we committed to spending 0.7% of GNI on development. For decades, successive Liberal and Conservative governments failed to fulfill this obligation. The government must demonstrate its willingness to better the lives of children around the world and meet this goal now.