Canada's generosity is less than charitable when it comes to canceling the unpayable debts of the poorest countries

When it comes to Third World poverty, what are the limits to our collective conscience? Foreign aid is shrinking, but more importantly, Canada's generosity is less than charitable when it comes to canceling the unpayable debts of the poorest countries.

These limits can be measured quite precisely. Consider the announcement last March that Canada would cancel all of the debts of the least developed countries. In the eleven months since, only one country has been affected. The total amount involved? $600,000.

The debt cancellation program has emerged as a nickel and dime operation. Instead of treating the debts of the fifteen least developed countries that owe Canada money, the Department of Finance is considering only four.

There are also some countries that are classified as heavily indebted and poor that owe money to Canada. The twenty three countries that are either in this category or are considered 'least developed' (most are both) owe Canada just under $1.2 billion. It's a heart–stopping sum for most of us. Consider what it means for the poorest people on earth. They are looking at a debt that is unpayable by anyone's figuring, when they don't have enough to feed, clothe, and educate their children. They live in countries where most girls, if they survive their childhood, will not complete primary school and on average will not live longer than about forty five years.

"He that dies pays all debts", as Shakespeare put it in The Tempest. Perhaps a better quote for today's world comes from the African bishop, who asked, 'How many times must I pay for the gun that killed my father?' The Third World debt crisis is the sorriest legacy of post–colonial history, but the days when the nastiest of dictators found it easy to grab the money – indeed they were encouraged to – are largely over. Debt relief is now widely recognized as both appropriate and necessary if people in the poorest countries are to have a chance at improving the quality of their lives.

Almost all of poor country debts to Canada were contracted with the Export Development Corporation, a crown corporation set up to support the Canadian business community and it's desire to expand overseas. It loaned money to Third World countries without regard to social or environmental damage whatsoever.

We have a responsibility as a country. It has to go beyond rhetoric to reality. We can't be miserly when it comes to the debts of the poorest, debts they can't pay and shouldn't have to. Too often these were debts contracted by leaders that were too often corrupt or by business interests without regard for the community that would have to make the payments.

Consider that almost all of the outstanding debts to Canada were made in support of business interests, not in the interest of the people who are paying for these debts with their lives. All of these loans are at market rates, designed to yield a profit for the Export Development Corporation. This crown corporation, created and supported with public money, is benefitting from a situation of indebtedness and poverty that should have been consigned to the past, to the time of Charles Dickens and the debtors' prison.

The government is considering debt relief for Tanzania, Madagascar, Honduras and "possibly" Zambia. Eventually. It is waiting for the World Bank and IMF to get around to giving their sign of approval for these countries, and finish their own debt reduction process. This should take two or three years, if all goes well.

As for canceling the debts of the other indebted poor countries, our government's conscience apparently will not bear it. Not taking $600,000 from the people of Bangladesh was the best it could do, some nine months after congratulating itself for taking the lead in debt relief in the industrial world.

The person who draws the line at the edge of our collective conscience is Paul Martin. He has drawn it in much tighter than what one would expect in the compassionate. The people in these countries are in straits that are dire beyond the comprehension of most of us. They deserve more than the least of what we will provide, and should get the most of what we can.

It isn't a question of what it will cost Canadians. It's a question of whether an agency like the Export Development Corporation can get by without taking money from the destitute. Surely our national conscience expects much more than we have done so far.

– Derek MacCuish