To the Editor:
How cynical!...
I think one must be absolutely cynical or completely daft to take as partners in helping the poor of the third world the Canadian large corporations and mining companies exploiting their resources.
Yet this is again the approach taken by the Harper government by recently amalgamating the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
Whether cynical or daft, the Harper government is diverting Canadian development assistance for the poor to corporations, whose interests are opposite - in principle and practice - to the well-being of these poor people.
There are numerous well-known instances and testimonies in this regard.
Mr. Harper knows the role played by multinationals in the impoverishment of numerous third world countries. He is thus making another dangerous right turn in favor of the very rich, whose first victims, in the truest sense, will be the poorest of the world.
I hope pressures from the public, from opposition parties and from members of their own party will force the Harper Conservatives to change their approach towards CIDA and to adopt a much more human approach towards the poorest of the world. Assistance to the poor is limited and must go to the poor, not to large corporations.
Bruno Marquis, Gatineau QC.
