Last week a major political party announced that if it formed the next government, it would cut the foreign aid budget by 25 percent. As a registered charity we are not naming the party in question since under current legislation, the CRA rules provide that “A charity may carry out Public Policy Dialogue and Development Activities that support or oppose a law, policy, or decision of the government that a political party or candidate also supports or opposes. A charity can do this at any time, inside or outside of an election period, as long as in doing so the charity does not refer to or otherwise identify the political party or candidate.
However, for your information, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, an umbrella group representing Development NGOs in Canada, has released the following media statement: MEDIA STATEMENT: The Canadian Council for International Co-operation Reacts to the Proposed Cuts on International Assistance in the Conservative Electoral Platform – Canadian Council for International Co-operation
CCIC has also released a fact sheet on Official Development Assistance: https://ccic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CCCI-Fact-Sheet-Elections-ENG.pdf
Even with the federal Budget commitments of 2018, Canada’s international development assistance lags behind its fair share among OECD countries. The country’s current ratio of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Gross National Income (GNI) is 0.28% according to the OECD – below the OECD average of 0.31% and below the previous government’s average of 0.30%. Announcements made this summer (see factsheet) were well received by Canadian stakeholders, including CCIC, but do not change these calculations.