I was just adding up the hundreds of millions of dollars in Aid Dollars Harper has promised in the past week alone. How much of this will get to the people that need it? How much of it will prop up governments that are illegitimate. How much is part of making a neo con world?
Canada spends roughly Six Billion a year of foreign aid. IMHO we are not seeing much for it, maybe Switzerland could give us a better picture. Therefore I would switch all of our aid to something concrete.
Shipping container housing is my idea of making life better for the downtrodden world, and that includes Canadian Natives. A specification for tropical, temperate and northern climates is opened for tender from Canadian companies using Canadian technology and Canadian business. These container would be stuffed full of solar panels, composting toilets, water filtration systems and Canadian Food, especially canned peaches. A forty foot shipping container cost a few thousand dollars, assume the whole package costs $50,000. Thats 120,000 homes a year from Canada to the world.
This would kill two birds with one stone, ensure people who need help got something, and Canadian resources would reward Canadian Business.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the Canadian companies (Ecopod) pushes the limit even further creating these off the grid container housing units. I guess they would be first on the list in the tender. But there are another companies that consider container a viable housing alternative. They are also usable in the suburbs for families with low income or as a cumulative long term project when building up communities in poor areas. The potential of modular housing is still in its teens and has so much more to offer. I like the idea that particularly first aid containers should be stuffed with food.
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