I am an idealist. I believe the world would work better if everyone just got along. However, I am not running a country. There are issues in the world that would beat down any optimist or idealist, and one of them is the maternal and infant mortality rate in developing countries.
It is estimated that more than 500 000 mothers die in childbirth each year, and maternal mortality rates are dangerously high in places like Afghanistan. Further statistics are horrifying, and we in North American have no concept of the dangers of childbirth without the proper health-care facilities. Now that PM Harper has decided to make this one of the items on the G8 agenda, the question of why he has done so has been raised.
Harper is emphasizing keeping promises made in the past rather than trying to make new ones. It is being said that the problem of deaths from childbirth can be drastically reduced with little financial demand, as the solution is simple: provide adequate health-care facilities to mothers and infants.
It is estimated that more than 500 000 mothers die in childbirth each year, and maternal mortality rates are dangerously high in places like Afghanistan. Further statistics are horrifying, and we in North American have no concept of the dangers of childbirth without the proper health-care facilities. Now that PM Harper has decided to make this one of the items on the G8 agenda, the question of why he has done so has been raised.
Harper is emphasizing keeping promises made in the past rather than trying to make new ones. It is being said that the problem of deaths from childbirth can be drastically reduced with little financial demand, as the solution is simple: provide adequate health-care facilities to mothers and infants.
While this sounds like a simple solution, Canada has been known to shy away from financial commitments in the past. Perhaps the best example is the failure to meet our commitment to donate 0.7% of our GDP to foreign aid, which would include setting up adequate health-care in developing countries.
The implication that Harper is a realist means he did not bring this issue up because he believed a solution must finally be presented, or because he felt he should take on the responsibility of using his power to draw attention to those who need help. If he is a realist, he is diving into this issue for reasons not pertaining to simple good will. Why, then, is he doing it?
Perhaps he wants to divert attention from Canada’s own shoddy promise-keeping. It would distract the international community from the fact that we are in the same position as everyone else, and need to shape up. While everyone is worrying about honouring their own commitments, the fact that the G8 host country is also worried will slip by.
Perhaps he knows that as much as Canada may want to spearhead this operation, there is no way we could do it alone. No country could solve this problem alone, just as no country can solve world hunger alone, or provide the world with clean drinking water. Canada, as aforementioned, cannot even part with 0.7% of its GDP each year. How would we improve global health-care on our own?
If Harper was an idealist he would be doing this out of the goodness of his heart – but he is a realist, and he knows that Canada can merely narrow the direction of the project and still receive credit for it, even if, in the final picture, we play only a mediocre part. He also knows that Canada cannot commit to anything new right now, as we recover from an economic crisis. This is why he has brought up the subject of maternal mortality rates, and this is why Canada will receive perhaps undue credit while it works away at old promises that have been left unfulfilled for far too long.
