Does Harper want out of Africa? Canada’s current commitment to continent characterized as less than wholehearted as PM makes his first visit
For Personal Use Only
KAMPALA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper set foot on African soil for the first time ever yesterday under pressure to reassert Canada’s commitment to helping the still-struggling continent emerge from poverty and underdevelopment.
Beyond the glitz of the three-day meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in the Ugandan capital, Uganda remains one of the world’s poorest nations, a country whose gross domestic product is still a meagre $245 (U.S.) per capita and which ranks a dismal 145th among 177 nations in the UN Human Development Index.
While much of his Uganda trip will be concentrated on the weekend meeting, Mr. Harper is expected to see Canadian foreign aid in action during a stopover Monday in neighbouring Tanzania, where Canada is a long-time provider of development assistance and Canadian mining companies are increasingly active.
In its new foreign-policy agenda, the Conservative government has made clear that it has three priorities: backing the military mission in Afghanistan, focusing on the Americas and pushing Canada’s relationship with emerging economies such as China and India.
Conspicuously absent from this policy was any mention of Africa, according to the Africa-Canada Forum, an organization of non-governmental organizations interested in the continent.
The absence of Africa in Mr. Harper’s foreign-policy pronouncements has sparked concern not just from non-governmental organizations but from former Tory prime minister Joe Clark as well. “Of all the Prime Minister’s press releases, statements and speeches in the last year, not a single one mentions Africa – not the statement announcing support for HIV-AIDS research, not on the retirement of Kofi Annan, nor the Speech from the Throne…” Mr. Clark said recently.
In response, the PMO was able to cite a couple of instances where Africa was mentioned, but they appeared to be rare.
Mr. Harper did promise last June that Canada would stick to the commitment made by previous Liberal administrations to double aid to Africa by 2008-09 but critics say that even that promise was less than wholehearted. (When former prime minister Paul Martin originally made that promise, it was based on a starting point of $1.38-billion for 2003-04, but that number has since been scaled back to $1.05-billion, meaning the promise is now $2.1-billion.)
As he made the Africa promise at the G8 Summit in Germany, Mr. Harper made it clear he was shifting the focus closer to home in the Americas, noting that “Canada’s sole focus and primary focus is not necessarily Africa but we remain engaged there.”
“Obviously, a focus of our new government is the Americas, where we also have countries that have development challenges,” he continued. Mr. Harper followed up that promise with a week-long trip to the Americas in July.
“Will Canada meet the promise of doubling aid to Africa? There’s no way to know,” said Gerry Barr, president of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, noting that the Canadian International Development Agency’s latest firm statistics date back to 2004-05. He also worries that once the doubling is met, future aid commitments will simply be allowed to stagnate.
Roy Culpeper, president of the North-South Institute, is not as concerned. He said the commitment to double aid to Africa was clearly reasserted to him at a meeting in September with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda.
“The poorest countries of the world are overrepresented in Africa,” Mr. Culpeper said.
Yet despite the persistence of poverty, Mr. Culpeper said, indicators are that economic growth in Africa is picking up and conditions are improving.
John Richards, a public policy professor at Simon Fraser University, said he sees nothing wrong with the Harper government’s apparent desire to move away from the emphasis on aid to Africa.
“I think Chrétien and Martin were too obsessed with Africa,” he said. “We should continue to devote resources to it, but I don’t think this should be the only focus.”
Filed by Nikola Cvetkovic under Development