Hunger

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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I hear about the same kind of rosy descriptions of cooperation projects and technological transfers since 30 years and yet the hunger problem is a growing one. I think the problem is not a problem of shortage of food at all but a political problem.

See, it's stuff like this which leads me to ignore much of what you say. Your original post is asking about the Canadian response to world hunger. Your statement about birth control is ill informed. I give you one example, and then you ignore it completely.

You'd have to be pretty thick in the skull to imagine that a region where more than half of the harvested food never makes it to the consumers is a political problem over a food shortage problem. Politics may have some effect in Ethiopia, but I wouldn't say it's the largest. It's a poor country.

Projects like the one I mentioned are the type of projects with the potential to create a solution to the problem. Sending food or aid monies is a band-aid solution. We have the technology and know how. It's one of the things Canada does very well. Give poor nations the technology that allows them to help themselves. Relying on aid will never be a workable solution.
 

AnnaG

Hall of Fame Member
Jul 5, 2009
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See, it's stuff like this which leads me to ignore much of what you say. Your original post is asking about the Canadian response to world hunger. Your statement about birth control is ill informed. I give you one example, and then you ignore it completely.

You'd have to be pretty thick in the skull to imagine that a region where more than half of the harvested food never makes it to the consumers is a political problem over a food shortage problem. Politics may have some effect in Ethiopia, but I wouldn't say it's the largest. It's a poor country.

Projects like the one I mentioned are the type of projects with the potential to create a solution to the problem. Sending food or aid monies is a band-aid solution. We have the technology and know how. It's one of the things Canada does very well. Give poor nations the technology that allows them to help themselves. Relying on aid will never be a workable solution.
Yeah. What was that bit about giving a guy a bag of flour and you can feed him for a week. Give him a bag of seed and he can feed himself indefinitely?
 

big

Time Out
Oct 15, 2009
562
4
18
Quebec
See, it's stuff like this which leads me to ignore much of what you say. Your original post is asking about the Canadian response to world hunger. Your statement about birth control is ill informed. I give you one example, and then you ignore it completely.

You'd have to be pretty thick in the skull to imagine that a region where more than half of the harvested food never makes it to the consumers is a political problem over a food shortage problem. Politics may have some effect in Ethiopia, but I wouldn't say it's the largest. It's a poor country.

Projects like the one I mentioned are the type of projects with the potential to create a solution to the problem. Sending food or aid monies is a band-aid solution. We have the technology and know how. It's one of the things Canada does very well. Give poor nations the technology that allows them to help themselves. Relying on aid will never be a workable solution.

Apply your little insult ("Thick in the skull") to yourself. My original post was about Canadians, not about some beautiful image of Canada you may like to project. My initial statement was so well informed that Juan has fallen in this obvious trap (see post #17).
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
15,441
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It's not an image I project. It's called reality, an actual working program. Helping real people. You were trying to project an image, that Canada is out of touch. I think everyone who has read this thread can see who is out of touch.
 

big

Time Out
Oct 15, 2009
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It's not an image I project. It's called reality, an actual working program. Helping real people. You were trying to project an image, that Canada is out of touch. I think everyone who has read this thread can see who is out of touch.

For the purpose of this thread, Canada has done nothing to avoid FAO's powerlessness toward hunger.
 

In Between Man

The Biblical Position
Sep 11, 2008
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49° 19' N, 123° 4' W
Sorry, but I got lazy proofreading this post originally and it must be fixed.

The average Canadian is too apathetic to really understand let alone help the hunger problem here or abroad.

During one federal campaign recently I witnessed Jack Layton, for a photo-op, toss a toonie to a beggar. A toonie? If you wish to impress me with that kind of photo-op then how about opening up you wallet and giving that beggar every cent you have on you? How about giving the guy your coat? Show me that you genuinely care for the that beggar than any amount of money.

That's what it's going to take to solve the hunger and homelessness problem. Sacrifice. To improve the unfortunate's standard of living, ours must go down. We should be thankful that we are fortunate, and that we have the ability to make a sacrifice that truly helps someone.

The next time you come across a beggar, don't just give them a quarter. Give someone a break and toss them a 5, 10 or 20. It's nothing for you, everything to them.
 

big

Time Out
Oct 15, 2009
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I'd like to see Ottawa put pressure on other FAO member states. As Canadians we should push our government to do so. It may mean threatening to stop all our international aid and development projects (on the basis that dying rapidly is preferable to dying slowly).
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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Nakusp, BC
I'd like to see Ottawa put pressure on other FAO member states. As Canadians we should push our government to do so. It may mean threatening to stop all our international aid and development projects (on the basis that dying rapidly is preferable to dying slowly).
Yah! Bullets not food... Oh, isn't that what we are doing in Afghanistan?
 

#juan

Hall of Fame Member
Aug 30, 2005
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Canadian soldiers should lay their arms at the feet of the hungry.

That sounds like a good way to get shot. Maybe the hungry should be helped to grow food, which is what our soldiers would do if they weren't always getting blown up by some dork with dynamite and a death wish.
 

big

Time Out
Oct 15, 2009
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That sounds like a good way to get shot. Maybe the hungry should be helped to grow food, which is what our soldiers would do if they weren't always getting blown up by some dork with dynamite and a death wish.

Our soldiers would come back home, if the United States could learn to behave themselves.