It's getting to the point where, because of the actions of our government, I'm embarrassed to be Canadian. Here's an example of why. Several DECADES ago, Canada and all the other OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, aka the Rich Countries' Club) signed an agreement to commit to spending at least 0.7% of their GNPon foreign aid. This, is was estimated, was what would be necessary to even begin to make an effort to eliminate the very worst kinds of suffering in the world. Despite our reputation and the way we conceive of ourselves -- generally as the great do-gooders -- there are only five countries in the world who meet or exceed this 0.7% threshold: Denmark (the only country to actually exceed 1%!!), the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Luxembourg. In terms of percentage of GNP spent on foreign aid, we rank #17 at 0.27% GNP. We've never even broken 0.5%.

And I haven't even mentioned the problems with our aid policy being basically trade policy, which is what allows China to be among the top five recipients of Canadian aid despite not even being in the bottom HALF of countries in the world in terms of wealth. Their HDI (Human Development Index) rating is only about 0.23 below ours, yet we send tem in excess of $43 million annually to ensure they can afford to buy Canadian products. Oh Canada.