From Mr Jeremiah Norris.

Sir, Last month a government of Canada standing senate committee on foreign affairs concluded that, after 40 years of aid, little has been done with its $12.4bn in bilateral assistance to propel Africa from economic stagnation or to improve the quality of life on the continent: "Development assistance has been a holding pattern for Africa at best, and a direct facilitator of poor governance and economic mismanagement at worst." It found the Canadian International Development Agency was ineffective and unresponsive to conditions