Humanitarian groups in Canada are expressing their disappointment with the federal budget presented by the minority Liberal government, saying it is “a missed opportunity for Canada’s global engagement” and limits Ottawa’s ability to play a “meaningful long-term role” in a post-pandemic global recovery.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled on Monday $101.4 billion in new spending in the first federal budget in two years.
The 739-page document commits up to $1.4 billion over five years in international assistance to “support developing countries and vulnerable populations respond to this crisis and to meet growing humanitarian needs around the world.”
That includes $375 million towards the global pandemic response.
The budget proposes to allocate an additional $165 million in 2021-22 to Global Affairs Canada to provide international humanitarian assistance to areas of the world suffering from conflicts, food insecurity, and other crises.
It also commits Canada to allocate $288.3 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to respond to the Rohingya crisis.
In addition the new budget proposes to provide $80.3 million over two years, starting in
2021-22, to respond to the Venezuelan migrant and refugee crisis.
But Nicolas Moyer, CEO of Cooperation Canada, the national association of international development and humanitarian organizations, said it falls far short of what the international development community in Canada was hoping for.
“The budget does some extraordinary things on the domestic front,” Moyer told Radio Canada International. “But when it comes to the international side of things, this budget really falls flat and it feels like a big-big missed opportunity.”
‘A mixed bag’
The new Liberal budget commits Canada to allocate $288.3 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to respond to the Rohingya crisis. (Bernat Armangue/AP Photo/Sept. 2, 2017)
Moyer said the domestic elements of the budget appear well-thought out and strategically oriented.
“And the international portfolio seems like a bit of a mixed bag of initiatives that the government was going to have to do anyway – you don’t really see the connection between all the pieces – and there is certainly not the level of ambition that we were looking for,” Moyer said.
“The world is going through the crisis of a generation, arguably a double crisis of COVID and the climate crisis, and for Canada that should mean significant investment in these spaces for us to ensure that there is progress around the world that is for everyone, including ourselves.”
Humanitarian NGOs in Canada were calling on the Liberal government to invest one per cent of its COVID-19 response to support the global response and recovery, Moyer said.
Canada is currently contributing far below its global fair share and its international commitments, investing only 30 cents in international assistance for every $100 in gross national income, Moyer said. Despite an increase last year, Canada continues to perform below the average of donors of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), he added.
Care Canada president and CEO Barbara Grantham said much of the $1.4 billion allocated for foreign assistance is targeted for this year, with no indication of a long-term strategy to eradicate COVID-19.
“Keeping Canadians safe is the most crucial role of the government. Today, that means eradicating COVID-19 worldwide,” Grantham said in a statement.
“This budget allocation limits Canada’s ability to play a meaningful long-term role in a global recovery.”
Michael Messenger, president and CEO of World Vision Canada, said he too was disappointed by the absence of robust annual increases in international assistance funding.
“If we don’t think beyond today, we will miss to provide leadership and continue the momentum in our fight against poverty, inequality, hunger and deadly diseases,” Messenger said.
“This will help protect Canadians too because we won’t be safe until the whole world is safe. And there will be no Canadian recovery until there is a global recovery.”
‘A substantial and additional investment’
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, centre, tables the federal budget in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Monday April 19, 2021. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
International Development Minister Karina Gould said the Liberal government has been a strong ally globally to support developing countries address ongoing humanitarian crises, a changing climate and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada is renewing its investments in support of live-saving programs for migrants from Venezuela, refugees from the conflict in Syria or for hundreds of thousands of displaced Rohingya families from Myanmar, Gould told Radio Canada International in an emailed statement.
“Our government has been there since the start of the pandemic with $3.25 billion already provided in international assistance in response to COVID-19,” Gould said.
The addition of $1.4 billion over five years in the new budget is “a substantial and additional investment made by Canada,” she added.
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