Forgive debt: PM

Ottawa

Canadian churches, including the Anglican Church of Canada, are welcoming the federal government’s debt-relief plan but say more must be done. The strategy, announced by Prime Minister Jean Chretien March 25, calls on the G-7 industrialized nations to forgive the US $8 billion debt of the world’s poorest countries. The Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, however, notes that the government’s announcement covers only about 30 of the countries. The coalition of more than 30 churches and church groups in Canada wants all the bilateral and multilateral debts of the world’s 50 poorest countries canceled and says it will keep up the pressure on the federal government before the meeting of the G-7 leaders in Cologne, Germany, in June. Several hundred thousand signatures have been collected across Canada supporting debt relief.