Mr. Speaker, even before the terrible cyclone, there was a huge humanitarian crisis brewing on the Thai-Burma border. Shortly, 140,000 refugees, including thousands of children, the elderly, and pregnant women, could be facing malnutrition, if not starvation.
The Thai-Burma border consortium, through CIDA and Inter Pares, delivers food rations to those Burmese refugees.
However, since I visited those refugees in January, rice prices have tripled and there is a $6 million shortfall. People will have to be cut from the 2,000 calories a day needed to survive to less than 1,000 calories. Their diet of rice, beans, fishpaste, oil, salt, sugar and flour will have to be reduced to just rice and salt.
Could members imagine going home every day and at every meal eating only rice and salt, and half enough, at that?
Canadians, it would be shameful if we stood by and let this disaster occur. CIDA needs to give an extra $1 million each year to inspire other donor countries and prevent a humanitarian disaster.
For Prime Minister in exile Sein Win, who is in Ottawa today, we ask that the Canadian government please act.