Falling Aid

from Embassy

Foreign aid continues to take a beating in Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget.
FOREIGN AID

Aid Dollars Rise, Official Assistance Level Dips

Canada is moving in the wrong direction if it wants to meet its commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of its gross national product on international development, experts say.

While Canada's aid contributions in dollars have increased every year since 2001-02, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, a coalition of civil society organizations, says that Canada's Official Development Assistance level fell from 0.34 per cent of GNP in 2005 to 0.33 per cent last year. Barring any large changes, that number is expected to drop to 0.32 per cent in 2007.

Getting every country to meet the 0.7 per cent level, a goal Prime Minister Stephen Harper was very vocal about when he was in opposition, is considered essential if the Millennium Development Goals to address global poverty are to be met.

CCIC executive director Gerry Barr said when Mr. Harper was campaigning during the last election, he promised to get increase ODA so that Canada met the average donor level by 2010.

"At the time that he said it, average donor performance was 0.42," Mr. Barr said. "We're stuck. We're absolutely stuck and we have been stuck for some years. With [former prime minister Paul] Martin's government, it's fair to say, we were also stuck.

"But Mr. Harper has now had two budget opportunities to perform on those promises and he has not done it. And it's quite unambiguous, he has not done it."

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada's ODA stood at 0.22 in 2001, 0.28 in 2002, 0.24 in 2003 and 0.27 in 2004.

On Monday, the government released this year's budget, which will see Canada's international assistance spending increase from $3.5 billion last year to $4.1 billion in this year and $4.4 billion in 2008-09.

The increases represent the Conservative government's continuation of a policy started under the Liberals that increases aid spending by eight per cent each year, with the goal of doubling Canada's 2001-02 international assistance amount, in dollars, by 2010-11.

According to calculations by the CCIC, Canada's total ODA contributions stood at $4.6 billion last year, when international development aid, debt relief and non-CIDA programs were included.

Bloc Québécois CIDA critic Caroline St-Hilaire said the government has done little to address Canada's ODA commitments.

"They say they are committed to the Millennium Development Goals, which is to fight poverty, but I am wondering how they are going to do it because at the same time they are not increasing ODA," she said.

She also questioned the government's three-point plan to improve aid delivery and effectiveness, which was also outlined in the budget.

According to the plan, the government will reduce administrative costs for aid delivery and provide more frequent and comprehensive reports on how Canadian aid is being used.

Bill C-293, a private member's bill introduced by Liberal MP John McKay which will go through third reading this week, already addresses those issues, Ms. St-Hilaire said, but she questioned why the Tories have not thrown their support behind it.

The third point of the plan introduced by the budget, to reduce the number of countries it supports from 77 to an unknown number, will see Canada aim to be among the largest five donors in specific countries, and choose which countries will receive aid based on "our foreign policy objectives," the budget reads.

Canada is already one of the largest donors to both Afghanistan and Haiti, and critics worried the government may start allocating aid based on political reasons rather than poverty eradication.

"What is the basis for how they choose countries?" Ms. St-Hilaire said. "Is it going to be where the Canadian military are, like Afghanistan? Or is it going to reduce poverty?"

Liberal CIDA critic Mark Eyking also questioned why there was no mention of Africa within the report given the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee recently released a scathing report that alleged Canadian development efforts on the continent have had no lasting effects.

"We had a commitment to Africa that we were going to double our spending over five years," he said. "I don't see anything specifically ear tagged for Africa. Which comes down to where the Harper government is on Africa."

He also questioned why there was no response in the budget to any of the points raised about CIDA's operations by the Senate committee.

"It's just not on the radar screen," he said.