Leaders of Canadian aid and development groups are responding with concern to remarks made by Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, about linking aid with trade in the future.
Sarai made the remarks in a recent interview with Canadian Affairs. Sarai said federal government support for development work in the Global South should foster trade opportunities to benefit Canadians.
“Having development support our trade is key,” Sarai said. “We are trying to focus on where there are trade opportunities.”
Andy Harrington, executive director of Canadian Foodgrains Bank, believes that aid and trade “can be complementary in some contexts.” But he has concerns about tying development assistance too closely to trade objectives.
“Development aid is most effective when it is clearly focused on reducing poverty, responding to humanitarian need, and strengthening local systems, particularly in the world’s poorest and most fragile contexts,” Harrington said.
When commercial or trade interests become a primary driver, “we risk shifting assistance away from the area of greatest need and moving towards areas where the economic returns for Canada can be maximised,” he added.
If that happens, the neediest people in the world can suffer, he said.
Harrington noted that Canada has grappled with the aid and trade question in the past. Prior to 2008, the Canadian government required grain shipped to people in other countries to be purchased from Canadian farmers, a practice known as “tied aid.” That policy resulted in extra shipping costs, delays in getting food to where it was needed, and other inefficiencies.
“Linking assistance to donor-country interests reduces effectiveness, increases costs, and undermines local ownership,” Harrington said. It was for these reasons that Canada decided against tying aid and trade in the past, he noted.
Moving in this direction will “blur the core purpose of development assistance or move Canada away from its long-standing commitments to poverty reduction and humanitarian principles,” Harrington said.
Nicolas Moyer, CEO of Cuso International, says he is open to talking with Global Affairs about how aid and development groups can work with Global Affairs to collaborate with the private sector.
But any such discussions “must first and foremost focus on reducing poverty, suffering and inequality in the countries we serve. It should not be tied to short-term economic or trade objectives,” he said.
These collaborations must also be “transparent, rooted in evidence of impact, and not structured primarily to open markets for Canadian exporters,” Moyer said. They must “ensure that the most vulnerable continue to see meaningful improvements in their lives,” he added.
‘Time of global rupture’
Kate Higgins is CEO of Cooperation Canada, which represents more than 100 Canadian development and humanitarian organizations.
Higgins says aid is an important part of how Canada should engage the world, especially during this “time of global rupture.”
As Canada reshapes its foreign policy as a middle power, “international development must be leveraged alongside diplomacy, trade and defence,” she acknowledged.
But, she added, the government must ensure a significant portion of Canada’s international assistance stays focused on poverty reduction, human rights and the communities most at risk in low-income and fragile contexts.
These places, where needs are greatest, are places where the private sector and private capital is least likely to reach or want to go, Higgins said.
Guy Smagghe, executive director of Presbyterian World Service & Development, the relief and development arm of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, had stronger words for the government. At a time when more than 800 million people are not getting enough to eat, the idea that aid should be tied to helping Canada’s economy is “appalling,” he said.
Aid should not be provided to people in need “with the condition that they will in turn give us something back,” he said, noting Canada has benefited greatly from systems that have brought wealth to this country at the expense of others
“There is value in helping others based on their needs alone,” Smagghe said.
“We are a generous people, and we have also received generously. Let’s not forget that.”
