Canada and Africa

From July 6 to 8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, the Canadian prime minister will sit down at the G8 table with the leaders of the six other major industrialized democracies and Russia, along with the leaders of several less industrialized democracies of Africa, to discuss once again how to bring development to that continent. This may represent the last such chance for both sides, as indicated by Tony Blair’s Commission for Africa, set up last spring to provide recommendations to the G8 at Gleneagles. This is the 30th anniversary of the G7/G8 (Canada actually joined in year two, 1976), which constitutes an informal association of the big democracies in the North, designed to “manage globalization”—initially during the Cold War in terms of economic prosperity but increasingly now in terms of advancing global security. This year, as the host country, the United Kingdom has designated Africa and climate change as top priorities. Indeed, the commission’s report asserts that “we must...