McLeod Group guest blog by Mario Renaud and Robert Letendre, March 7, 2023

Those of us who have been closely associated with Canada’s international development assistance over the past few decades have noted the catastrophic impact of the 2013 merger of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. As argued in previous blogs (here and here), the effects include the loss of expertise in international ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Cristina Rojas, December 15, 2022

The recent election of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez as president and vice-president of Colombia gave a new momentum to the peace agreement between the government of Colombia and the guerrilla group FARC-EP. The agreement, signed in 2016, aimed to end the armed conflict that produced 8.7 million victims, including 7 million internally displaced people and thousands of disappeared and kidnapped people and victims of sexual violence.

The Petro-Márquez presidential program asked ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Nigel Martin, December 5, 2022

India will host the G20 meeting for the first time in September 2023. One of the annual summit’s activities, dating back to a Canadian-inspired initiative in 2010, is an official meeting between G20 officials and civil society organizations (CSOs) from within and outside of G20 countries.

However, unlike in previous meetings where civil society selected its own representatives and chair, the Indian government has determined which CSOs from India will participate in ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Ryan Katz-Rosene, November 7, 2022

The 27^th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has just begun in Egypt. As the conference’s President-Designate, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry, recently noted that the meeting is being held “at a critical time of cascading risks and overlapping crises”, including warfare, inflation, an ongoing pandemic and more. In short, we are facing a global Continue Reading →

McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown and Gloria Novovic, October 18, 2022

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland recently gave a headline-grabbing foreign policy speech in Washington, DC. At the event, hosted by the Brookings Institution on October 11, she outlined her prescription for the international order, which has since been described as the “Freeland Doctrine”. 

Though refreshing for its plain talk, Freeland’s speech was oddly reminiscent of the Harper ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Daniel Livermore, August 9, 2022

If the stars align, the year 2023 promises to be key for decisions about Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian foreign service. Two studies are now under way: in the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, launched in February 2022, and at Global Affairs itself, announced by the Minister and Deputy Minister on May 30.

Both studies will address an issue that has ...

McLeod Group blog by Hunter McGill, June 2, 2022

After shrinking in the final years of the Harper government, Canadian foreign aid was back up in 2021 to where it had been in 2011 and 2012: 0.32% of Gross National Income. An achievement of sorts, but not a big one, especially considering that the international target, agreed at the United Nations in 1970, is 0.7%. Where did the additional funds go and how does the Canadian increase compare to its peers?

The ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Gloria Novovic and Stuart Trew, April 21, 2022

Recently, the federal government issued Budget 2022, unveiling plans for “Canada’s leadership in the world”. This leadership role, however, is questionable. In 2020, Canada’s failed bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council confirmed what many observers had been warning about: that Canada lacks a coherent foreign policy. Instead, we have vague assurances of Canada’s commitment to the so-called rules-based international order ...

McLeod Group blog by Betty Plewes and Brian Tomlinson, April 19, 2022

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, made a powerful plea to northern countries at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last year: “We have come here to say two degrees of global warming is a death sentence for millions. Try harder, try harder.”

It is one of the tragedies of the global climate crisis that those countries that are the least responsible for creating the ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Nyambura Githaiga, April 13, 2022

The war in Ukraine is leading to a drop in food production, higher food prices and an increased risk of famine around the world. High-income countries should take three steps to help prevent hunger from spreading. First, avoid sanctions on food and fertilizer. Second, increase food assistance in step with higher food prices. Third, prioritize famine prevention.

Before the war, global hunger was already on the rise. Over the past few years, ...