Canada Critiqued Heavily On Foreign Aid Policy

Canada critiqued heavily on foreign aid policy. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was recently noted to have said that Canada was “back” on the world stage. But is this really so? According to a global report, for Canada to actually be “back” on the world stage, it needed to add more to its foreign spending.

Fallen Foreign Spending Aid Of Canada

Despite seeing a very good economic growth, the foreign spending aid of Canada has dropped. This was said in a report by DAC. 0.325% was considered to be the average spending aid for DAC member countries. But in the year 2017, the spending aid of Canada had dropped to 0.26%. This was way less than the 0.7% UN target.

This report was released by OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), a Paris based organization, through its DAC (Development Assistance Committee).  This report is part of a rotating 5-year review done by the OECD, of member countries. “Canada needs to increase foreign aid flows in line with its renewed engagement,” the OECD said. According to the report, Canada’s attempts to lobby for a temporary United Nations Security Council seat, could be hampered because of this.

Canada Just Not Spending Enough

According to the OECD, though Canada had planned to spend an extra $2 billion on foreign aid, over a 5 year period, it was just not enough, as compared to what it was spending in 2012. In dollar terms, this means that in the year 2012, Canada was spending $4.5 billion on foreign aid. And in the year 2017, Canada spent only US $4.27 billion on foreign aid.

According to CARE Canada President and CEO Gillian Barth, “Beginning with an initial boost of almost nine per cent over last year’s international assistance budget, however, increases to international assistance will proceed at a rate of less than two per cent year-over-year from 2019 to 2023. This is insufficient to keep up with the rate of inflation.”

Can Canada Reach The Globally Accepted Benchmark?

So that Canada can reach the worldwide recognizable benchmark, Canada needs to increase its foreign aid spending to 15% per year, on an average. But as per the proposed budget made by Canada, its foreign aid spending will be increased only by around 2% per year.

Canada Has No Plans To Reach UN Target

According to the Trudeau government, Canada has absolutely no plans to reach the 0.7% foreign aid spending target that has been set by the UN, in the 1960s. According to Trudeau and Marie-Claude Bibeau (International Development Minister), it would cost Canada too much to reach the 0.7% target.

Not only is the foreign aid being given by Canada, way below the globally agreed target of 0.7%, it is also less than the average aid being given by all the donor countries that are a part of the OECD. The report of the OECD is bound to catch the attention of many Asian and African countries, whose votes would be needed by Canada, when it makes its bid for a United Nations Security Council temporary seat.

What Is Critical To Canada Right Now

According to Charlotte Petri Gornitzka, the chair of the OECD, “It is important to now set out a path to increase aid volumes to add weight to Canada’s global advocacy role.”

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