Africa will ‘friend-zone’ Canada if Ottawa doesn’t improve engagement, experts say

OTTAWA — Canada is approaching total irrelevance in the world’s fastest-growing continent, experts argue, saying that a pattern of disengagement in trade, diplomacy and investment in Africa means Ottawa is ceding ground to Russia and China. “Africa is going to friend-zone Canada if the current approach remains, because it’s lukewarm,” said Stanley Achonu, the Nigeria director for the One Campaign. His organization, which fights extreme poverty and preventable diseases, testified this week at the Senate foreign-affairs committee, which is looking into Canada’s relations with a continent on track to almost double in population by 2050. The Liberals have promised an…