Executive Summary
2010 will be a decisive year for Canada, and for the world. The deadline for meeting the world’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is only five years away. Our decisions on economic reform and climate change will determine the success of world’s efforts to reduce poverty and reverse dangerous global warming for the next generation and beyond. As host of the next G8 and G20 Summits, Canada can make the difference between relegating these aspirations to a distant hope in an uncertain future and confirming the possibility of achieving these goals in our lifetime. The consequences of reneging on our promises are unthinkable for the millions around the world looking towards a new model of globalization that is socially responsible, economically sustainable and environmentally just.
The G8 and G20 Summits offer Canada the opportunity to reassert our reputation as a leader on human rights. In the year 2010, the causes of extreme poverty are now well-understood, and the solutions well-known. Our platform focuses on specific, measureable and realistic steps that Canada, along with other G8 countries, can take to catalyze progress on many of the globe’s most pressing concerns and bring about fairer, more inclusive global decision-making.
In 2009, a broad and diverse group of Canadian civil society organizations came together to develop a common blueprint for action. While the organizations come from a vast array of backgrounds with diverse focus and expertise, there is remarkable consensus on specific recommendations to move forward on an agenda for global development. This consensus is widely supported by international coalitions of organizations concerned with social justice around the world.
This paper emphasizes what we can do. It focuses on three interlinked priorities: combating poverty; transforming the global economic and financial system; and making real progress on climate change.
Highlights include clear recommendations on what Canada can do to:
- Prevent the deaths of millions of women and children
- Confirm the G8’s legacy on HIV and AIDS
- Build greater coherence on global food security
- Make important progress on Education for All.
- Assert water and sanitation as the foundation to good health
- Ensure economic recovery includes decent work for all
- Solidify and reinforce progress in Africa
- Ensure global economic recovery for all
- Make global rules and institutions fair
- Provide political momentum towards a fair, ambitious and binding global climate agreement in 2010
The 2010 G8 Canadian Civil Society Coordinating Committee