McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, November 9, 2026
Pessimists feared further cuts to Canada’s aid program. Optimists were hoping for a reinvestment in Global Affairs Canada. What the latest federal budget delivered instead was a great, big nothingburger.
There was cause to be worried. Major aid donors, including the US, the UK, Germany and France, have been slashing their aid budgets over the past few years. In 2025, official development assistance from OECD countries tumbled by 23% compared to the previous year. Last year’s federal budget announced $2.7 billion in cuts over four years. The Canadian government could well have decided to sharpen its machete and slash some more.
But there was also a strong case for increasing international assistance and, more broadly, strengthening Global Affairs Canada. Poverty, inequality and conflict are all threats to Canada’s foreign policy goals, as pointed out by Cooperation Canada’s response to Budget 2026. With the dramatic fall in global aid spending – causing a large increase in human suffering and deaths – some donors, like Norway, decided to bolster their spending. That is what leadership looks like.
The best that can be said about the budget regarding foreign aid is that the government refrained from cutting more. It is hard to believe Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s post-budget reassurances that “development assistance is a priority for Global Affairs Canada” when, for the first time since at least 2010, the budget document doesn’t even mention foreign aid or international development.
Faced with growing uncertainty and even threats from Canada’s closest partner, Prime Minister Mark Carney is pursuing an aggressive plan to diversify the country’s international partnerships, as well as strengthen multilateralism. It would make sense to provide more resources to the department in charge of maintaining those relationships, including aid, trade and diplomacy.
However, Global Affairs Canada remains starved for resources and is bleeding expertise. Its slow decline seems set to continue. Budget 2026 provides only “paltry new funds” for a few specific things like hosting the 2028 Francophonie Summit and promoting nuclear exports. Surprisingly, there is no additional funding set aside for implementing Canada’s new foreign policy, expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks. Is this a sign that, like Canada’s 2025 Africa Strategy, the government will fail to provide the resources for meaningful action?
Without additional funding, Canada will struggle to expand diplomatic engagement, deepen partnerships, promote international development and respond to international crises. The Carney government is trying to redefine its place in the world and its relationships with other countries, but it is oddly reluctant to fund the very institutions and mechanisms that will allow it to do so. It needs to put some meat in its burger.
Stephen Brown is a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa and currently a fellow at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities, University Alliance Ruhr, Essen, Germany. Image by Ron Lach, Pexels.