NDP statement on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

Official Opposition Environment critic Megan Leslie (Halifax) made the following statement on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought:

“The focus of this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is ‘attainment of food security for all through sustainable food systems.’” This effort, supported by 193 countries, seeks to allow the poorest populations of the world to feed themselves adequately, by fighting against desertification and the misuse of agricultural lands.

Unfortunately for Canadians, whose spirit of compassion and solidarity is widely recognized, the Conservative government quietly pulled out of the United Nations anti-droughts convention two years ago. The UN called Canada’s withdrawal “regrettable,” noting that our country is not immune from this threat given that 60% of our agricultural land is located in arid zones.

As the NDP said at the time, Canada was the first to sign this protocol and the first to withdraw from it.

Today, it is important to remember that as well as blocking initiatives to combat the many threats to the environment, Stephen Harper’s Canada is abandoning hundreds of millions of starving people to their fate, because they are unable to feed themselves with produce from their land.”