Statement made on 04 May 2010 by Senator Grant Mitchell
Hon. Grant Mitchell:
Honourable senators, in a few short weeks, a major international conference on maternal health, sponsored by the group Women Deliver, will be held in Washington, D.C., which is not too far from Ottawa. Yet, while 3,500 leaders, practitioners and special policy-makers from around the world will attend that conference, it appears that Canada will not send a representative of the Government of Canada. That is odd, honourable senators, since the Government of Canada is making such a big deal out of its maternal health aid program. This makes one wonder if the Conservative view of foreign aid might not simply be foreign aid for domestic consumption.
Can the Leader of the Government in the Senate tell us why Canada has no official or ministerial representation at this extremely important conference? This conference is significant to Canada, since the government seems to have little, if any, understanding of the standard accepted protocols for maternal health aid in the world.
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