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Overseas development needs to be a priority
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic News
October 10, 2008
OTTAWA - The Catholic Church’s overseas development arm sent an open letter to all federal candidates asking them to make international development a priority.
The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace also called for a moratorium on oil sands production.
The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace also called for a moratorium on oil sands production.
“In the run-up to the elections, the candidates for office must take a stand on development assistance,” wrote Development and Peace executive director Michael Casey in an open letter Oct 3.
“Having supported our partners in the South as they were hit by crisis upon crisis in the last few months, we demand that Canadian politicians take responsibility for our country’s role in the global social and economic environment, and that they act to make this environment favourable and more just towards the poor,” Casey wrote, speaking on behalf of 13,000 Catholic members across Canada “who are committed to social justice.”
Though he recognized improvements in the quality of Canada’s aid programs with the passage of Bill C-293, Casey said there is room for improvement in both quantity and quality of aid. He pointed out Canada provides only 0.28 per cent of its GNP towards official development assistance.
Casey urged candidates to advocate the following:
Development and Peace is the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ overseas development arm.
“Having supported our partners in the South as they were hit by crisis upon crisis in the last few months, we demand that Canadian politicians take responsibility for our country’s role in the global social and economic environment, and that they act to make this environment favourable and more just towards the poor,” Casey wrote, speaking on behalf of 13,000 Catholic members across Canada “who are committed to social justice.”
Though he recognized improvements in the quality of Canada’s aid programs with the passage of Bill C-293, Casey said there is room for improvement in both quantity and quality of aid. He pointed out Canada provides only 0.28 per cent of its GNP towards official development assistance.
Casey urged candidates to advocate the following:
- a timetable for reaching the goal of 0.7 per cent of GNP towards international development;
- debt relief programs and cancellation of illegitimate debt owed by global South countries;
- trade measures to protect the livelihood of small-scale farmers and revision of agricultural subsidies in the global North to make trade more equitable;
- make agriculture a priority for reducing hunger and poverty and encouraging rural development;
- a moratorium on oil sands development as part of comprehensive plan to implement Kyoto Protocol and other environmental obligations; and
- implement the recommendations recommended by the 2007 National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extractive Sector in Development countries to make Canadian mining companies responsible for their actions abroad.
Development and Peace is the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ overseas development arm.