Years ago, the world’s wealthiest nations set the goal to fund international development by 0.7% of GDP. They have virtually all failed from even approaching this figure. This is a problem I have long taken issue with, but today I did something about it.
If my government refuses to take this seriously, I will. Today I made my donation to Spread the Net: A UNICEF program promoted by Belinda Stronach (Lib., Newmarket-Aurora) and TV personality Rick Mercer. In case you are not familiar, the program provides bed nets to people in developing nations to stop the spread of malaria, thus following the age old age adage that an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
To make it serious, I donated a little over 0.7% of my gross income from last year. And I intend to do the same at the end of 2008. If we all took this step, we could make a real difference in the world at very little cost to ourselves. So I urge you to, come tax season, look at your gross income (a function of the national GDP), and calculate how little 0.7% is. It’s affordable and could make a real difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
