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Canada fails to implement on AIDS legislation passed in 2004

'I am flabbergasted that they have not taken it seriously.... It is Canada's time to deliver.' - Stephen Lewis

 

Toronto (11 August 2006) - Stephen Lewis is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to implement a four-point Canadian AIDS program approved by Parliament but not put into effect because of a "delinquent" and "hypocritical" inaction at top government levels in Ottawa.

Speaking in Toronto prior to an international AIDS conference, Lewis said he feels "almost personally duped" because he assumed that Canada was serious when Parliament approved the plan by formally passing legislation in 2004.

"I actually believed, with a kind of charming innocence, that the government of Canada would really take this seriously," he said. "I made a significant error in judgment."

Endorsed by more than 80 humanitarian and development groups across Canada, the plan committed Canada to:

  • raise its international aid commitment to .7% of gross national income (GNI) from the current level of about .34;
  • invest in the health-care systems of developing countries;
  • cancel the debt of poorer countries to free up money to fight HIV/AIDS; and
  • make low-cost generic drugs available to countries abroad to fight the disease.

Despite the passage of legislation, not one shipment of drugs has been made and Canada remains conspicuously absent from the list of countries that have set a target date for meeting increased international aid budgets.

Meanwhile, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who replaced the outgoing Liberal regime of Paul Martin last winter, has created an international embarrassment for Canada by refusing to attend the AIDS conference.

"I am flabbergasted that they have not taken it seriously," Lewis said of the 2004 legislation and public commitments made by government leaders at the time.

"It is Canada's time to deliver.... The world is waiting for someone to take the lead. Canada could play such a role and for whatever reasons it is incapable of playing."

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has strongly supported efforts over the years to reform Canadian laws related to generic drugs, to increase Canada's commitment to foreign aid and to fight the global AIDS pandemic. NUPGE

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