U.N. calls Canadian pullout regrettable

The United Nations have called Canada’s pullout from the UN drought convention regrettable.

In a report by CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada is withdrawing from the convention because the program has been too bureaucratic. 

He says less than one-fifth of the 350 thousand dollars Canada puts into the convention goes to programming.

And Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird called the whole program a talkfest that does a disservice to Canadians.

But convention staff said the program is stronger than ever before.

They said this makes Canada’s decision to pull out all the more regrettable.

On the other hand, they said Canada has played a big part in the convention’s progress since it started in the mid 1990s.

Flickr Photo by: US Mission Geneva

STORY WRITTEN BY: KURT WEISS