London, Paris, Berlin, and Barrie?

You’ve probably never heard of Barrie. The capital of Southern Ontario’s cottage country has a population of 125,000 and is largely undistinguished among the hundreds of other communities of its size that dot the landscape just north of the 49th parallel. Except that tomorrow, Barrie will host Canada’s Live 8 concert, featuring performances by Bryan Adams, Céline Dion, Gordon Lightfoot, the Barenaked Ladies, and the Tragically Hip, among others.

The Live 8 concerts—organized by British activist Sir Bob Geldof—are designed to put pressure the leaders of the G8 countries to increase aid, cancel debt, and deliver what Geldof calls “trade justice” to Africa, in advance of this month’s G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, where Africa tops the agenda.

But here in the frozen North, Live 8’s reception has been frigid. At the June 21 press conference held to announce the concert’s Canadian host, Geldof issued a stern admonition to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on the subject of foreign aid; unless, like a number of European countries, he commits to a 0.7 percent of GDP foreign aid contribution by 2015, Martin should stay home.

“There’s no use in your prime minister coming to Scotland unless he’s prepared to do this deal,” Geldof said in a taped message. “If he’s not prepared, stay at home, just stay at home, don’t come.”

The response from many Canadians was dismay. One writer, in The Toronto Sun, accused Sir Bob of appearing, “as heavy-handed and self-righteous as the tin-pot dictators against whom he’s fighting.” Another, in a letter to The Toronto Star, bemoaned the pushy knight’s interference: “Let’s have our foreign-aid policy and programs determined by our elected representatives, not wealthy non-Canadian musicians.” And just this week, a columnist for The Vancouver Sun described Geldof as “out of line,” claiming that, “people like Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono should stick to singing…when they start dictating foreign policy to politicians, they go beyond their expertise.”

All these criticisms are deserved. It is one thing for Sir Bob to orchestrate the Live 8 concerts in an effort to raise awareness of some very important issues in the run-up to a G8 conference. But it is quite another thing when he goes so far as to tell Canada’s head of government not to bother attending the Gleneagles Summit unless he’s willing to implement, posthaste, a major shift in his country’s foreign aid policy. Geldof crossed the line with his admonition of Prime Minister Martin, which is a real shame, because the man just might have a point, after all.

The development aid target of 0.7 percent of GDP is hardly a new concept. The number was born because of the work of the World Bank’s Commission on International Development—called the Pearson Commission after its chair, former Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson—which delivered its report in 1969. The next year, the UN General Assembly adopted the 0.7 percent target as the international standard for foreign aid contribution. In the 35 years since, rich countries have repeatedly pledged to meet that target, but only a handful—Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands—have followed through.

Canada’s current foreign aid contribution is approximately $3 billion, 0.26 percent of the country’s trillion-dollar GDP. Reaching 0.7 percent would require Canada’s contribution to more than double, a political near-impossibility given the higher-than-usual level of spending included in the government’s last budget, passed in May.

Responding to Geldof’s criticism, Martin told the House of Commons on June 21, “I’m not going to make a commitment that I am not sure that the government will be able to keep,” he said. This is in spite of Canada’s declaration, made as part of its Millennium Development Goals in 2000, that it would reach the 0.7 percent target by 2015.

Martin has come under fire from a number of individuals and groups, most of whom lack Bono and Sir Bob’s musical credentials. UN adviser Jeffrey D. Sachs ’76, UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the all-party Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs have all called on Martin to meet Lester B. Pearson’s original goal.

And meet that goal he should. While ambivalence about making a significant 10-year spending commitment is to be expected in any national leader, such commitments both reflect and shape a government’s priorities. The situation in the developing world stands to improve dramatically with an increase in aid from rich countries, coupled with domestic reforms to combat corruption and resource misallocation. Canada has lost its chance to lead the developed world in increasing its foreign aid contribution, but it still stands to make a significant positive difference in the lives of millions by starting to play catch-up. This kind of spending should not be taken lightly, but it must be prioritized. After 35 years of postponing a real commitment, the time is now.

Tomorrow’s Live 8 concert will pack Barrie, Ontario, and will likely make a long-term economic difference for the region. For a few hours, perhaps, many Canadians will think seriously about foreign aid, debt cancellation, and “trade justice” for the first time. But when the music stops, Prime Minister Paul Martin will be left with a choice: finally commit to the standard set 36 years ago by Lester Pearson, or remain, with the United States and Russia, one of the three G8 countries not to make such an important commitment.

Let’s hope he appeases the rambunctious Sir Bob, after all.

Adam Goldenberg ’08, a Social Studies concentrator in Winthrop House, is an editorial editor of The Harvard Crimson. He will spend the summer in lovely Vancouver, pondering ways to best spend his country’s money. As it is July 1, he wishes everyone a happy Canada Day.