Mr. Speaker, in Canada's 2005 federal budget, at page 213, this country made an explicit commitment to increase our foreign aid to Africa to reach $2.8 billion. The Conservative government now says that Canada will invest less than that promised amount and, further, that Africa is somehow no longer in Canada's “neighbourhood”, no longer a focus for Canadian assistance.
The poorest people on the face of the earth in Africa should not be shortchanged by Canada. Specifically, why has the government decided that Africa is no longer a Canadian priority?