Montreal / February 10, 2022 – Peggy Nash, MP (Parkdale—High Park) and NDP leadership candidate, released a plan to address five critical foreign policy areas.

“Canada’s reputation on promoting peace, equality, and action on climate internationally has fallen dramatically,” said Nash. “We can and must do better.”

To increase Canada’s commitment and leadership on peace-building, sustainable development, women’s rights, climate change, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans) rights, Nash’s plan includes proposals to:

• deliver on our commitment to the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget to 0.7 of the GDP with an immediate increase of $500 million and further increases each year;
• enable Canadian pharmaceutical companies to export generic versions of life-saving medicines for people suffering from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other life-threatening diseases;
• promote truth, justice, and reconciliation commissions as a central part of sustainable peace, and assisting in the logistic needs of transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict regions;
• implement Canada’s Action Plan for the Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, with timely and transparent monitoring benchmarks;
• fund programs supporting girls’ education, safety, skills training and health, ensuring all programs meet safety protocols;
• reinstate funding to organizations promoting family planning options in developing nations to ensure maternal health is a priority;
• insist on women’s meaningful participation at peace negotiation tables - at national and local levels, as well as their integration into the economic, social, and political post-conflict reconstruction process;
• support the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict and work with the campaign to push for full implementation of laws supporting survivors of sexual violence and the rule of law around the world;
• playing a leading and proactive role in international climate change negotiations; and
• make the promotion of LGBT rights overseas an active and integrated element of our foreign policy priorities.

Promoting Sustainability, Peace, And Equality Around the World