Tom Cochrane Kicks Off Live 8 in Barrie, Calling for Aid for Africa
Posted on: Saturday, 2 July 2005, 12:00 CDT
BARRIE, Ont. (CP) - Thousands of fans stood and cheered as Tom Cochrane kicked off Canada's Live 8 concert Saturday under sunny skies and warm temperatures.
Dan Aykroyd, who is cohost with Tom Green, chanted "Canada cares" to the crowd which filed the grassy lawn of Park Place.
Cochrane called on Prime Minister Paul Martin to increase aid for poverty stricken Africa.
About 35,000 fans were expected to take in the concert, set to feature artists such as Bryan Adams, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot and the Barenaked Ladies.
Canada's show was to wrap up day-long Live 8 concerts held in capitals and major cities around the world, aimed at raising awareness of poverty in AIDS stricken Africa.
An estimated worldwide audience of 5.5 billion people in more than 140 countries will be watching live via television, radio, Internet and mobile phones.
Over 150 musicians around the globe including Sarah McLachlan, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney and U2 will perform.
The Canadian audience will be treated to a wide array of music by more than 20 acts.
Rapper DMC will bring a heavy dose of urban flavour, a sharp contrast with the likes of Lightfoot, Canada's folk icon and a taped segment from Celine Dion.
Rockers from another era such as Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, Motley Crue and Deep Purple will perform, as will younger bands, Our Lady Peace, Jet, Sam Roberts, Simple Plan and The Tragically Hip.
Young, in his first return to the stage since he suffered a brain aneurysm in April, will close the show.
Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof's call for Canada to increase foreign aid has been heard by some already.
In Ottawa, earlier this week MPs unanimously called on the government to raise foreign aid - but the vote was simply symbolic and non-binding.
Live 8 organizers want Canada to immediately hike its annual aid to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product - an increase that would mean more than tripling the $3 billion a year it now spends.
Martin has already said that's impossible.
Live 8 is being held just ahead of the G8 summit, a gathering in Scotland of the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations.
An Ipsos-Reid poll released Saturday morning suggested that 59 per cent of Canadians don't think the country can afford to spend an additional $12 billion in foreign aid.
For Canada to follow through on Geldof's call to increase aid to 0.7 per cent of it GDP by 2015, Ottawa would have to find $15 billion a year in foreign aid.
Six in 10 Canadians said "that given the current state of Canada's health-care system and other social spending programs, we simply cannot afford to spend an additional $12 billion a year on foreign aid," Ipsos-Reid said in a release Saturday.
Source: Canadian Press
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