Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation for taking the time to look at the issue of CIDA and its list of priority countries.
As official opposition critic for La Francophonie, I believe that we have an obligation to consider how we can help strengthen the ties between member countries of La Francophonie. That said, I know very well that CIDA has obligations that go beyond our country's membership in an international organization. It must first ensure that priority countries have a real need and must then predict the impact of Canadian aid on the quality of life of people in developing countries. We will have to review the decision to include or exclude certain countries from CIDA's priority list, according to the aforementioned criteria.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa, members of la Francophonie, must be part of this discussion because, unfortunately, they are among the poorest countries in the world. For instance, in May 2009, eight African countries were taken off the list of priority countries for development assistance. It would appear that francophone countries were targeted in particular, since five of the eight countries are members of la Francophonie: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger and Rwanda. The question is: were those francophone countries targeted and, if so, why? Even African nations were wondering why this measure seemed to target francophone countries in particular.
A review of the countries' performance based on their development level does not justify this exclusion. According to the United Nations 2009 human development report, African countries that are members of la Francophonie are among the poorest of the 182 countries listed. I will name five: Benin, 161st out of 182; Cameroon, 153rd; Niger, the poorest country in the world, 182nd; Rwanda, 167th; and Burkina Faso, 177th out of 182.
When I compare this list to the Latin American countries that are not members of the Francophonie and that received aid from CIDA, I see a remarkable difference. The five countries that received aid from CIDA are: Peru, which is 78th on the list; Colombia, 77th; Bolivia, 113th; Honduras, which was 106th in 2010; and Dominican Republic, 73rd.
Why were the poorest countries in the world excluded when they need international aid the most? Even a list of our national and international agreements does not explain the exclusion of many sub-Saharan African countries.
Canada is a member country of la Francophonie. This obliges us to strengthen our ties with other member countries of this vast network, but CIDA's new strategy excludes, as I said, the five poorest member countries of la Francophonie in the world.
This decision has certainly had a serious impact on our diplomatic relations with member countries of la Francophonie. After the Minister of International Cooperation announced CIDA's new strategy in 2009, 17 ambassadors appeared before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on May 27 this year. According to some—