LETTER

Lester Pearson’s challenge 

 

I congratulate the House of Lords in London for passing historic legislation which requires the British government to allocate 0.7% of their GDP to Overseas Development Assistance. 

 

Why this is of such interest to Canadians is that was our Prime Minister, Lester Pearson, who, in 1969, challenged the developed countries to achieve this level of funding to those countries less fortunate than us. Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Luxemburg and now Britain have achieved that target. Unfortunately, despite promises by several governments, Canada is still below 0.3%. Perhaps it is time for us to pass such a law in Ottawa and honour the memory of a great man.

 

Sam Weller 

Victoria BC