Leaders of Canadian aid groups are expressing concern over a pledge by Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre to cut foreign aid if he becomes prime minister.
Poilievre made the pledge in a December interview with media personality Jordan Peterson.
“We’re going to cut bureaucracy, cut the consultants, cut foreign aid, cut back on corporate welfare to large corporations. We’re going to use the savings to bring down the deficit and taxes and unleash the free-enterprise system,” Poilievre said.
Kate Higgins, CEO of Cooperation Canada, says foreign aid cuts would have a negative effect on vulnerable people in the developing world and on Canadian security and prosperity.
“Around the world, there are so many destabilizing things happening, so many devastating humanitarian crises,” said Higgins, whose organization is an umbrella group for 102 Canadian international relief and development organizations, many of which receive federal funding.
“In that context, it is vital that Canada engage the world,” she said.
Nicolas Moyer, CEO of CUSO International, agrees.
If Canada wants to see a change in the world it needs to “invest in the future we want to see,” said Moyer, whose organization works to create opportunities for marginalized groups in the developing world. “Canada is an important part of the global community.”
But as the possibility of a change in government looms, “the sector’s eyes are wide open,” he said. The general mood in the sector, he says, is that “there are challenging times ahead” and a need to “prepare for austerity.”
Moyer says he expects cuts to foreign aid, but is not clear on how deep they will be or what programs they will affect. He says he could see a Conservative government reducing funding to United Nations agencies and putting more emphasis on aid that encourages trade and private sector involvement.
Moyer acknowledged the challenges facing many Canadians at home, but also noted Canada’s aid budget is a very small part of overall Canadian spending.
“Our aid budget is quite small, so there’s not a lot of money to be saved,” he said.
In 2024-25, Canada is projected to spend $7.2 billion on foreign aid, on an overall budget of $449 billion. This is up from $6.9-billion in 2023-24, but down from $8.1 billion in 2022-23.
Janice Hamilton, executive director of the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation, says the potential change in government is making many in the sector “quite nervous.”
She echoed Higgins in saying that a sustained investment in foreign aid is good for both Canada and the world.
“[I]f we want a secure Canada, we need to support the creation of a secure world,” she said. “[W]e need to share the wealth of our country with others. It’s an investment in the world we want to live in.”
Hamilton says she expects the Conservatives to continue to support foreign aid while framing it differently than the Liberals, who titled their approach as the “feminist international assistance policy.” That approach prioritized gender equality and empowering women and girls as a key strategy to achieving broader development goals like poverty reduction, peacebuilding and inclusive governance.
“Feminist language may be dropped from the aid vocabulary,” Hamilton said, although she expects the Conservatives to continue to focus on women as a key driver in development.
Andy Harrington, executive director of the global hunger organization Canadian Foodgrains Bank, says he also expects cuts under a Conservative government. But “we don’t know exactly what that means, or how much,” he said.
With 750-million hungry people in the world — 25 million of whom are on the edge of starvation — there is a moral imperative for Canada to share with others, Harrington said. “Canadian aid makes a big difference to millions of people around the world,” he added.
Harrington says he could see the Conservative Party cutting funding to United Nations agencies, but hopes it would not cut funding to Canadian aid groups.
“They have great track records, they work with trusted partners and get good results,” he said of Canadian aid groups. “It’s very cost effective.”
A 2019 report by the Centre for International Policy Studies found that foreign aid spending under the Trudeau government was slightly lower than it was under the Harper government. From 2006 to 2015, when the Conservatives were in power, foreign aid spending averaged 0.3 per cent of gross national income.
“When the Liberals were first elected in 2015, [official development assistance] stood at 0.28% of GNI, a ratio that the Trudeau government has never surpassed,” the report says. “In fact, in 2019, that figure fell to 0.27%, down from 0.28% the previous year.”
No matter which party forms government after the next election, the sector is prepared to work with the government, said Richard Morgan, executive director of the Humanitarian Coalition, a coalition of 12 leading Canadian aid organizations.
“Parties of all stripes take humanitarian work seriously,” he said, adding that there may be a bigger role for Canada to play if the US, under Donald Trump, steps back from the international scene.
“That would be a real opportunity for Canada to show leadership in humanitarian spaces,” he said.
This is the first article in a series on Canadian foreign aid that will explore questions such as the political parties’ stances on aid, where Canadian aid dollars are spent and how the effectiveness of foreign aid spending is measured.
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