The MSM Obsession with Actors Criticizing Canada’s Foreign Aid Policy

The left-wing MSM seems to have an obsession with movie stars and entertainers criticizing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper and the Canadian government over its foreign aid commitment to countries like Africa. In the “top stories” section of the CTV news website, there is an article titled, “Matt Damon criticizes Harper”. But if you read the MSM's spin on this story, it would imply that the population of Africa is suffering and children are starving because of "selfish" countries like Canada that refuse to give them more money.

The MSM conveniently fails to mention that Canada is one of the most generous countries in the world, when it comes to aid to that region. So by their omission of this very important fact, they have bolstered Matt Damon argument, and given him credibility in the eyes of uninformed readers, when he has absolutely no credentials when it comes to discussing Canada’s foreign aid or financial policy.

What is also missing from the article is the misuse and misappropriation of the majority of financial aid that is sent to that region. A large proportion of it is squandered by various dictators, who end up spending it on their friends and cronies, while very little of it goes to the people that it is supposed to help.

Despite more than 30 years of economic aid to Africa, there is still an ever increasing occurrence of poverty, starvation, death, disease and misery experienced by a vast majority of people in many of these countries. This is due in large part to mismanagement of its resources, thievery and failed economic policies followed by many of its leaders. So at some point, we really need to consider whether Western aid to Africa in its present form is really making a difference.

So, with these facts in mind, any responsible government would first of all insist on stringent conditions attached to any foreign aid it gives to a region with such a bad record of misappropriating the aid it receives. A responsible government also would not blindly pledge a percentage of its GDP or billions of taxpayer dollars for foreign aid on a recurring basis without any type of parliamentary debate, where it could be properly scrutinized. Such a commitment would depend on budgeting, fiscal and other obligations that the government has to Canada and that can change at any moment.

This policy apparently was not good enough for Bob Geldof and Bono. They were howling with indignation over Canada’s insistence of properly accounting of any aid given to Africa during the G8 summit in Germany in June. They were in fact falsely accusing Canada of "blocking other G8 countries from making clear targets" in the group's humanitarian aid package to Africa. Instead of looking at all of the facts, the left-wing MSM willingly swallowed this story "hook line and sinker" while the Liberals spun the story, portraying the Conservative government as cold and heartless.

Just sending money to Africa will not by itself reduce the poverty, disease and lack of economic opportunity that many of its inhabitants find itself. Africans need implement reforms in the way their government operates and need to have a mechanism to hold them accountable when they fail to produce results.

The MSM would be better served by promoting the necessary reforms needed in Africa instead of becoming the mouthpiece of entertainers such as, Matt Damon, Bob Geldof and Bono. Their simplistic solution, advocated by many left-wingers, of simply throwing more money at the problem has been tried for 30 years and has failed miserably. So it is now time for a new approach to be tried to combat this problem.