Live 8 organizers want Canadians to urge Prime Minister Paul Martin to think about his legacy and continue the initiative Lester B. Pearson started to end world poverty.

Singer Tom Cochrane, who will be performing at Saturday's concert in Barrie, Ont. says he wants Martin to commit to a target for aid spending of 0.7 per cent of gross national income.

"I think that Paul Martin has been a wonderful finance minister, but history will tell whether he's a great prime minister," Cochrane told CTV's Canada AM.

"If he goes to these G-8 meetings and tables a plan to meet the 0.7 per cent world relief contribution figure, then indeed I think he'll be on his way to becoming a great prime minister."

"We once had a very, very proud position through the late '50s and into the '60s of being a country that had fairly strong diplomatic position in the world," Cochrane later told a news conference in Ottawa.

"I'm very proud of Lester B. Pearson… and I'm proud of the fact that he introduced the idea of 0.7 per cent. If all the developing nations reach that figure for relief contributions by 2015, we can eradicate poverty."

Commons calls for hike in aid

It appears some Canadian politicians are listening.

On Tuesday, the House of Commons unanimously called for an immediate hike to annual aid to the 0.7 per cent level. But the motion is non-binding and there is no guarantee Ottawa will act on it.

Reaching that target would mean more than tripling the $3 billion a year Canada now spends on foreign aid. Martin has said that Canada's tight fiscal situation makes such an investment impossible.

Instead, Martin has pledged to raise foreign aid by 8 per cent a year until 2010.

But New Democrat MP Alexa McDonough, who tabled the motion Tuesday, dismisses Martin's assertions.

"Canada can afford it,'' she said. "That's not even the question.

"It's very clear that the money is there."

'An issue of justice'

Organizers of Make Poverty History say that 45,000 people have already signed an online petition calling on the prime minister to take action to eliminate Third World debt and increase foreign aid.

Musician and poet K'naan, who spent the first half of his life living in Somalia, believes that forgiving the debt of developing nations, many of which are in Africa, will do more good than simply sending relief money.

"These are issues of justice, they're not charity. And that's why I'm particularly excited about this situation to change things politically and economically in Africa from the root up, rather than try to quench a simple thirst for a moment."

"It's not complicated science. It's very simple. We have a surplus here in Canada. It's an issue of justice."

Concert organizer Denise Donlon says that she's particularly proud that so many of the musicians on Saturday's lineup are committed to global poverty issues.

"These are artists, by and large, who have been to Africa, who have worked there, who have seen the poverty that exists there and want to do something about it," she told reporters.

"From Jann Arden, to Jim Cuddy, Bruce Cockburn, Tom Cochrane -- Jim (Creegan) from the Barenaked Ladies actually left for Tanzania yesterday. Many of these artists have already been involved in world poverty issues and will continue to be."