Liberals buck global trend in 'doubling down' on foreign aid, as sector urges G7 push
Foreign aid groups are hailing the federal Liberal government's return to a policy of increasing humanitarian and development spending each year, while asking for a plan to push allies to reverse a global decline in aid.
"It was a good moment for Canada to step up and show global leadership by making this commitment of additional, new humanitarian money," said Kate Higgins, the head of Cooperation Canada, which represents more than 100 non-profits.
The Liberals pledged in their Tuesday budget to increase humanitarian aid by $150 million in the current fiscal year and $200 million the following year.
Global Affairs Canada says that means total foreign aid for this fiscal year "is projected to exceed $7 billion," though the department did not offer a precise number.
"When others are withdrawing, or talking about withdrawing from the world, we are doubling down on our engagement," International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said Wednesday.
The Liberals faced persistent criticism a year ago from the aid sector when they earmarked $6.9 billion in funding for development and humanitarian needs, a 15 per cent decline from the previous year.
The Trudeau government has pledged to increase foreign aid ever year they're in office, but the Liberals said they made exceptional increases to aid spending to account for the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, eventually exceeding $8 billion.
The new humanitarian funding comes at what Higgins calls an unprecedented state of need and complexity, with major wars in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine and Sudan, along with conflict and mass migration crises in Myanmar, Nigeria and Venezuela.
Countries known for their aid spending such as the U.K. and France have cut back on foreign aid, citing pressures on their domestic economies. UNICEF Canada says nearly a quarter of the world's children are living in or fleeing from conflict zones.
Hussen said Canada's aid will continue to put a focus on supporting women and helping them create the conditions for peace.
"Our government believes and knows the value of international aid, and the results that it delivers all around the world, and right here at home. So Canada is shaping a world that is more peaceful, more prosperous, and more resilient," he said.
The budget also reaffirms Canada's pledges to push for the reform of multilateral financing institutions like the World Bank. The aim is to help poor countries escape debt traps and the financial burden of catastrophic natural disasters, moving instead toward being able to invest in infrastructure that's more resilient to climate change.
Higgins was glad to see that commitment reiterated, but stressed that Ottawa needs to be more transparent in how it reports its data, particularly since the budget did not outline the cumulative figure of foreign aid for this fiscal year.
On Tuesday, Cooperation Canada and other aid coalitions called on Ottawa to use its chairmanship of the G7 next year to push some of the most powerful countries on earth to get back to boosting foreign aid.
The G7 has countries like the U.S., Japan and Germany send ministers for meetings throughout the year in the host country, culminating in a leader's summit.
That means Ottawa can use its clout now to start pushing countries to boost their aid funding in 2025, and have the G7 pay more attention to crises beyond the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Higgins said.
"We will be pushing the government to really look at the breadth and scope of the humanitarian crisis around the world."
Hussen would not say whether Canada plans to push its G7 peers on aid, and instead lambasted the Conservatives for a "reckless" pledge in February to divert an unspecified amount of "wasteful" foreign aid toward military spending. The Tories did not respond to an interview request.
NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson said the increase in humanitarian aid doesn't make up for cuts the Harper and Trudeau governments have made over recent years.
"We're not meeting the moment," McPherson said, considering famine-like conditions in Haiti, Sudan and Gaza.
She noted that Canada still isn't meeting the global target for rich countries, set out by former Prime Minister Lester Pearson as 0.7 per cent of gross national product for foreign aid. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development tabulates Canada's spending last year as half that target, at 0.38 per cent.
"The world needs Canada to be paying its fair share, and needs Canada to be playing a meaningful role," McPherson said.
She also argued it was "short-sighted" of the Liberals to boost military spending at a much higher rate than aid or diplomacy. The NDP supports more help for Ukraine's defence, but Canadian diplomats and aid workers could help undercut the factors that are driving crises worldwide, McPherson said.
"We've got such a strong, capable international development sector that could accomplish so much. We have such strong diplomats that could accomplish so much, if they were just given the tools."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2024.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Universities grapple with the complicated politics of campus encampments
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.
Police order B.C. woman who praised Hamas not to protest for 5 months, says her group
A pro-Palestinian activist group says its international co-ordinator, who was arrested in a Vancouver hate-crime investigation, was released with an order not to attend any protests for the next five months.
Conservative MP says Chinese hacking attack targeted his personal email
A Conservative MP is challenging claims by House of Commons administration that a China-backed hacking attempt did not impact any members of Parliament, because the attack was on his personal email.
Loblaw leaders call criticism 'misguided,' say they aren't to blame for high food prices
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
Local Spotlight
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Haida Elder suing Catholic Church and priest, hopes for 'healing and reconciliation'
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.