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Alright, boys and girls, I did it again. This time it was a letter to the Right Honourable Paul Martin urging him to commit 0.7% of the country’s Gross National Income (US$756.9 billion), or US$5.29 billion, to aid to developing nations. This amount is roughly equal to half the current budget surplus. That is, half the amount of money the government has just lying around after all the bills are paid. I also offered that the easiest, quickest, least detrimental option for alleviating debt among developing nations is to re-value the International Monetary Fund’s gold reserves, which are valued at 1970 levels. This price less than 10% of the current gold price. To re-value it would not risk the current gold price, since it would not flood the market, but only increase the amount of money available to the IMF, with which it could eradicate the debt owed by the world’s poorest countries.

I still have a handful of white bands and some Make Poverty History stickers, so let me know if you want anything. Here’s the form-letter that MPH has asked me to forward to a jillion people:

“Dear Friend,

Today, I became part of an unprecedented global call to action to end poverty: Make Poverty History

Right now, there is active campaigning in over 50 countries around the three core demands: More and Better Aid, Make Trade Fair, and Cancel the Debt. In Canada, we’re also campaigning to End Child Poverty in Canada.

You’ve just got to be a part of this campaign.

Go to http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca and sign on to the campaign yourself.

There is no time to lose.  It doesn’t matter who or where you are, your voice is critical to the success of this campaign. This is a rare chance to join me and thousands of others across the planet to once and for all make poverty history.

What are you waiting for? Join me and click in!

What you can do right now:

• Sign on to the campaign
• Tell Paul Martin to commit to a timeline for 0.7%
• Click others into action – forward this message to your networks

“If everyone who wants to see an end to poverty, hunger and suffering speaks out, then the noise will be deafening. Politicians will have to listen.”

– Archbishop Desmond Tutu”