[snip]

We want to see greater collaboration among nations to ensure that economic policies go hand in hand with stronger social programs to alleviate hunger, poverty, and disease, and to help to raise the standards of living in developing countries.

Canada can contribute to achieving these goals.

[snip]

To guide us forward in this, the Government has launched an integrated review of its international policies - the first such review in a decade of change.

The review will be completed this autumn and then considered by a parliamentary committee, where Canadians will have the opportunity to make their views known.

Some things, however, need not wait for the review - because they are urgently needed, or because the right course of action is already clear.

There is a moral imperative to do all we can to make medical treatment accessible to the untold millions suffering from deadly infectious diseases, notably HIV/AIDS, particularly in the poorest countries of Africa. The Government of Canada will therefore proceed with legislation to enable the provision of generic drugs to developing countries.

Canada’s obligation does not stop there. We are a knowledge-rich country. We must apply more of our research and science to help address the most pressing problems of developing countries.

[snip]

The full text of the speech is available at http://www.pm.gc.ca/grfx/docs/sft_fe2004_e.pdf