Statement made on 16 April 2008 by Senator Peter Stollery (retired)
Hon. Peter A. Stollery:
Honourable senators, I am pleased to inform you that government has accepted one of the most important recommendations of the Senate report on Africa of February 2007 entitled
Overcoming 40 Years of Failure: A New Road Map for Sub-Saharan Africa.
A short while ago, the Minister for International Development was instructed by the Prime Minister to attend all trade negotiations because of their importance to the developing world. Unfortunately, it was not the Canadian government that accepted our committee's recommendation but the British government.
I also inform the Senate that the report on Africa of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, as of March 26, has had 6,955 copies downloaded in English, and 2,278 copies downloaded in French. As honourable senators are aware, one download normally represents a multiplicity of copies of the report, and the demand for the report has not died off. Over the winter, 2,500 copies were downloaded. That is in addition to more than 1,500 hard copies.