So with the Live 8 concerts over and tomorrow the start of the G8 meetings in Scotland I thought I would post my opinions and ideas about the whole issue.

I think the concerts we a major success. More then 2 millions people in physical attendance and more then 50 million watching the concerts world-wide; this is an overwhelming statement by the people of the world.

Now onto foreign aid; I personally think that simply pumping more aid into these countries will be just like pouring water onto sand; it will be soaked up and request for more will be filed. What needs to happen is countries need to do come concrete thinking, planning and overseeing of the aid process. We can’t just write a cheque and walk away. It needs to be a long-term commitment, making sure none of the aid money goes to waste.

The other thing I have a beef with is the 2015 timeline. If you think of it, Live 8 organizers were asking for 0.7% of GDP. I doubt very much that it takes 10 years to adjust your foreign aid to less then 1% of your GDP.

Foreign aid needs to be raise, and needs to be done so under proper management and facilitation. Canada and the countries of the world should show leadership, and they should do it now.