The chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs committee is challenging the labour movement to help prevent violent protest when the G-8 meets in Kananaskis.
The federal government could spend up to $300 million on the June summit and security will be the main cost, Manitoba Liberal MP John Harvard said Thursday when the cross-Canada G-8 hearings came to Edmonton.
"Something is off the rails here," the government MP told a delegation from the Alberta Federation of Labour. "To spend even $100 million is beyond my imagination."
His comments were triggered by Kerry Barrett, the AFL's secretary-treasurer, who blamed provocative police tactics for escalating violence at globalization protests from Seattle to Genoa, Italy to Quebec City.
The G-8 must reverse growing world poverty, she said, defending the need for legitimate protest to spotlight growing inequality.
AFL research director Jim Selby said the labour movement is angry, after peaceful protesters in Quebec City became targets for tear gas.
"Here we are marching down the street and the next minute it's a war zone."
Harvard responded sharply, saying Canadians respect the right to protest but won't stand for smashing windows and damaging buildings.
"You say peaceful but you are infiltrated with anarchists," he told the labour leaders. "You should take some responsibility to prevent these people from infiltrating."
Alliance MP Dr. Keith Martin challenged a key AFL claim, when he argued that globalization will help the world's poor.
Selby replied saying poverty is worsening, especially in Africa.
A separate submission by three University of Alberta medical professors claimed diseases such as tuberculosis are a growing threat in the Third World.
The life expectancy in southern Africa has fallen from 61 years a decade ago to 38 now, said TB specialist Dr. Anne Fanning.
When the G-8 met in Okinawa two years ago, the group of industrialized nations pledged to cut deaths from TB and malaria by half by 2010. They promised to reduce the number of HIV-infected young people by 25 per cent by 2010.
Fanning said effective TB treatment costs just $10 over six months. A third of the world's population is infected with TB.
She said the G-8 must carry through on its 2000 promise and urged the parliamentary committee to ensure Canada carries through on its commitment to dedicate 0.7 per cent of GDP to international aid.
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