Mr. Speaker, notable progress has been made toward achieving the millennium development goals, or MDGs. Child deaths have dropped; more children than ever before are attending primary school; global poverty continues to decline; access to safe drinking water has been expanded; and investments in fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis have saved millions. There is widespread feeling among policy makers and civil society that the MDGs have played an important part in securing progress and that globally agreed goals should continue beyond 2015.
There is also widespread understanding that the world is undergoing dangerous climate change and other serious environmental problems and that worldwide environmental objectives need a higher profile. As described by Bill Gates, the MDGs became a type of global report card; they generated incentives to improve performance. Canada must play a role in supporting ambitious globally shared economic, environmental and social goals beyond 2015.