With Stephen Harper participating in La Francophonie summit this week, Liberals are drawing attention to how his government failed many of La Francophonie member states with his weak foreign policies and cuts to aid, particularly its decision to drop five French-African countries from CIDA’s Aid Priority list.
“Mr. Harper likely alienated at least 30 out of the 56 total member states of La Francophonie when he turned his back on francophone Africa,” said Liberal Critic for La Francophonie Raymonde Folco. “They were extremely displeased by his decision to remove the francophone African countries from Canada’s aid priority list and likely demonstrated their displeasure by voting against Canada for a UN Security Council seat.”
In February 2009, the Conservative government announced that it was dropping eight African countries from its Aid Priority list, specifically from CIDA’s “Countries of Focus” list: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, and Zambia.
Furthermore, the Conservatives continue to falsely claim that they doubled aid to Africa. Paul Martin promised to double aid to Africa, and his Liberal government began that pledge. The Conservatives deliberately changed the base year that commitment was established on in order to say they were doubling aid, when in fact they deliberately gave $700 million less.
“If the government’s claim of generous support were true, African states would be supportive and would have voted for us, and we would not have had 17 African Ambassadors come to the Hill in solidarity with the states who had been cut to plead with the Conservatives to reconsider their callous decision,” said Liberal International Cooperation Critic Glen Pearson.
“I hope that the participating African leaders have the opportunity to tell Mr. Harper that his foreign policies have to change and that his abandonment of Africa has had profoundly negative effects. Liberals remain passionately committed to Africa and would immediately restore our commitment to the continent,” Mr. Pearson said.
Mr. Pearson also pointed to the huge discrepancy in security costs between La Francophonie and Canada’s G8/G20. A Swiss newspaper has reported that it is costing $31 million for security to host the 53-nation Summit, compared to the $983 million spent by the Harper government for the G8/G20.
“It’s just another example of this government’s wasteful spending,” he concluded.
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