Those who lament that Canada is a faded power in the world usually focus on Canadian heroics in bygone wars. But if Canada has loomed large on the international stage it's also because we've occasionally captured the global imagination with a powerful idea for making the world a better place.
One such inspiring moment of Canadian leadership came in 1969 when Prime Minister Lester Pearson got world leaders to tackle a problem that barely seems to register with today's leaders — how to reduce the enormous gap between rich and poor nations.
As head of an international commission, Pearson proposed that rich countries commit themselves to spending 0.7 per cent of their GDPs on foreign aid, an idea adopted by the U.N. General Assembly and endorsed by 22 wealthy nations.
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1115416215924&call_pageid=970599119419Linda McQuaig rocks! I love all of her editorials.