Hit pavement Sunday for the world’s sake Split up federal government’s omnibus budget bill for debate
Global poverty isn’t the type of problem you solve on a Sunday morning. Indeed, the dimensions of the problem seem so overwhelming that one wonders how it can be solved at all.
Yet every individual can do a lot to help people around the world overcome poverty, and believe it or not, we can do so this Sunday morning.
May 27 will mark the Aga Khan Foundation Canada’s 28th World Partnership Walk to increase awareness and raise funds to help fight global poverty.
The walk began right here in Vancouver in 1985, when a group of volunteers from the Ismaili Women’s Organizing Committee persuaded nearly 1,000 people to join them in an effort to combat world poverty.
That walk raised more than $ 50,000, and since then, the event has become the largest of its kind in Canada, with more than $ 70 million raised in support of international development initiatives. Last year alone, Canadians raised more than $ 7 million for the cause.
With such funds, the foundation is able to leverage the support of, and additional funding from, organizations such as the Canadian International Development Agency. Furthermore, 100 per cent of funds go directly toward international development projects — not one cent is spent on administration.
And rather than merely throwing money at people in developing countries, the foundation’s 15 programs, which are operating in 13 countries around the world, are designed to foster self sufficiency in six areas: health, education, rural development, youth development, civil society and global citizenship.
Perhaps most important, communities are involved from the beginning, as they pool their collective resources and identify collective needs. For example, residents of remote and poor villages in northern Afghanistan were concerned about their lack of access to banking services.
Consequently, with the help of the foundation, they received training and support to run their own saving groups, and now such groups count 12,000 Afghan entrepreneurs as members.
Similarly, in northern Mozambique, many communities are dealing with poverty, malnutrition and a lack of resources. Consequently, the foundation is providing hands- on training and workshops that focus on farming skills, grain storage techniques and healthy eating.
And in Bangladesh, where nearly half of children leave school before completing their primary education, the foundation and local partner nongovernmental organizations are working to make early childhood programs better and easier to access.
These are just a few examples of the type of work in which the foundation is engaged, and hence the type of work you can support by walking on Sunday. The walk is designed to be meaningful and fun for the whole family and includes activities that inform, educate, celebrate and entertain.
Walkers will, for example, enjoy a five- kilometre scenic stroll, along with live entertainment, delicious food and an opportunity to record a testimonial on “Why I Walk.” And one of the walk’s most inspiring features is the Global Village, where participants can learn more about the foundation’s development programs.
The walk begins at 10 a. m. Sunday at Lumbermen’s Arch in Stanley Park. For more information and free registration, visit www. worldpartnershipwalk.com/ Vancouver.
Re: Kitsilano coast guard station shuttered by budget cuts, May 18
Our safety is being compromised by the federal government budget cuts. What else is in store for us?
The move by the Harper government in Ottawa to ram through their 452page budget bill is an arrogant attempt to subvert parliamentary democracy and public debate. Obviously, they’re afraid Canadians will really see what they’re up to. Already we know they plan to slash billions in spending, gut environmental protection rules, raise the age of OAS, and make it harder to get EI benefits.
What else are they hiding in this bill? The rational solution is to split this omnibus budget bill up into manageable and debatable items. Then at least we could see for ourselves what they are really up to.
LORENE OIKAWA Surrey
The federal government’s 452- page omnibus budget bill contains too much for adequate consideration by Parliament, because it is really more than budget- implementation legislation. Only some portions of it are about public finance, that is, about such matters as income tax, sales tax and federal- provincial fiscal arrangements.
When Paul Martin was prime minister in 2005, his budget bill was 120 pages long, a record at the time. The opposition leader, Stephen Harper, quite properly asked, “How can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote on a block of such legislation?” How indeed?
CHERY BARON Maple Ridge