Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise to present the petitions from the Canadian Grandmothers for Africa. Of course, in my own riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan, the NanGo Grannies have been active in gathering signatures.
I am pleased today to present hundreds of signatures and to remind the House of Commons that this is something that is taking place from coast to coast to coast. There have been many grandmothers and other sisters who have tried to raise the profile of the women in sub-Saharan Africa.
We are asking Canada to immediately set a timetable to meet by 2015 its 40-year-old promise to contribute 0.7% of our gross national product to development assistance, to contribute its fair share to the global fund to fight AIDS, TB, malaria, for example, 5% of the funding needed for each of the next five years, and to make the legislative changes necessary for Canada's access to the medicines regime to facilitate the immediate and sustainable flow of lower cost generic medicines to developing countries.
Given the interest from Canadian citizens from coast to coast to coast, I am expecting that the government will act on this immediately.