It is fortuitous that B次元官网网址檛is the season we dust off DickensB次元官网网址� most beloved villain, Ebenezer Scrooge.

I say fortuitous because Scrooge reminds us to choose between our conflicting natures: we can be cynical and selfish or we can realize we are our brotherB次元官网网址檚 keeper. It is my Christmas wish that Canada would choose the latter, because we have been notoriously cynical lately.

I wonder how many Canadians are aware that CIDA is the only federal department with a frozen budget? Millions of dollars of aid to the worldB次元官网网址檚 poorest are being withheld in the name of austerity, although CanadaB次元官网网址檚 aid commitment is far below that of nations who are struggling with much greater fiscal troubles. You can almost hear Scrooge saying: B次元官网网址淎re there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?B次元官网网址� Such appears to be CanadaB次元官网网址檚 attitude to the worldB次元官网网址檚 poor.

This is not just a wishful, Tiny-Tim thinking of a unique Christmas goose. Several programs that Canada has fully supported in the past have proven to be accountable, cost- effective and show proven results. Programs such as the Global Partnership for Education and the Global Fund to fight TB, AIDS and malaria. But it is easy to turn from the worldB次元官网网址檚 poor, as they have no voice in Canada.

We like to think we are being financially pragmatic, but as Dickens reminds us, B次元官网网址渕ankind is our business,B次元官网网址� and we donB次元官网网址檛 know the length of burdensome chain we carry, forged of the bones of the silent legions that are passing beyond help.

Scrooge had a glimpse of a future where children die because of his inaction and his own name is cursed, and this is the path we are on.

The entire world is watching us; which Scrooge shall we be?

Nathaniel Poole

Victoria