McLeod Group Blog

Open Letter to Party Leaders

Open Letter to Party Leaders

McLeod Group, October 10, 2019

We are writing to express our concern that to date and with less than two weeks to the elections there has been no serious discussion of Canadian foreign policy and the role of foreign aid. Given the changing and serious nature of global challenges, we believe it is important to hear from our political leaders how they see the role of Canada in the world.

We are particularly concerned about their views on foreign aid. Improving both the quantity and quality of Canada’s international assistance is important for both strategic and moral reasons. First, the world will be a more dangerous, unstable and less prosperous place if Canada doesn’t contribute to combating poverty, disease, poor governance and environmental degradation in poor countries.

Second, can we ignore widespread poverty in a highly unequal world and still be true to Canadian values? As wealthy country, Canada has an obligation to provide assistance to poor people both at home and abroad. This duty is not only a moral one, but also integral to our international human rights commitments.

Aid can work. For instance, it has helped reduce the death rate of children under five years of age, by funding immunization programs and health and nutrition initiatives. This has translated into increased life expectancy in low-income countries from 50 years in 1990 to 61 years in 2014 – a remarkable achievement. Also, people in developing countries are less likely to be seriously sick and thus less able to work and support themselves and their families, resulting in enhanced economic opportunities. 

Canada has adopted some important development policies. It has placed gender equality and human rights at the centre of its development assistance programs, most recently in the form of the Feminist International Assistance Policy, building on earlier initiatives focussing on maternal, newborn and child health. These actions must be protected and continued. 

Canadian aid as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) is falling. Achieving the goals Canada has set for its aid program means that a larger share must be channelled to development assistance. Good policies need sufficient, predictable funding to realize the objectives. However, over the past decade, Canada’s aid budget, as a proportion of GNI, has fallen significantly. It is now well behind our peers. Canada should aspire to be more generous than average, not less.

Canada has an important humanitarian assistance program. It helps populations affected by natural disasters and conflict. Canada’s response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2016, support for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and the various dimensions of the crisis in Syria, to say nothing of Yemen, has been timely and valuable. This support must be continued but must not draw funds from the development aid that helps make vulnerable countries more resilient to natural disasters and less likely to experience conflict-related humanitarian emergencies. Humanitarian assistance is no substitute for efforts to resolve root causes of conflict.

Policy coherence is essential to aid effectiveness. In addition to financing development in poor countries, it is essential that Canada take a coherent approach to the range of issues covered by its foreign policy. Among the matters to be included in this coherent approach are the destabilizing impact of arms sales, the need to support innovation and mitigation actions when dealing with the effects of climate change, investment policies – especially in the extractive sector – that respect the rights of poor and indigenous populations, and migration and refugee policies that take account of the vulnerability of people in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Policy coherence for development is a challenge because it involves trade-offs in Canada which may have political costs here, such as the impact of the removal of trade protection measures. It is important to recognize that policy coherence for development is much more than just policy coordination, which is not much more than an operational exercise.

Strong domestic private sectors are important sources of economic growth and employment in developing countries. Canada can do much to support the positive aspects of private sector development and promote its pro-poor and pro-women effects. At the same time, we must beware of the negative effects of an un- or poorly regulated private sector can entail: environmental damage, exploitative labour practices and corruption. As Canada experiments with new organizations (such as FinDev Canada) and new forms of private sector support (such as blended finance), appropriate caution must be exercised.

The stability of the global system depends on financial and policy support from Canada and other wealthy countries. Promoting sustainable economic growth, combating global public health threats, and addressing instability and insecurity that drive large-scale population movements are all objectives that contribute to a more stable world.

Canadian aid benefits both Canada and the world. We urge you, during the final days of the electoral campaign, to speak out on your vision of the role of Canada in the world.