Is this election going south?
As we head to the polls, are we becoming more like our southern counterparts? America first at all costs?
Andrew Scheer’s promise to cut foreign aid by 25 per cent makes me nervous. Are we to turn our backs on millions of people who rely on Canadian foreign aid, just to put a few more bucks in our pockets?
Of course one could argue that we have enough problems on the home front, and yes, this must be addressed as well, however, Canadians have repeatedly shown that they are in favor of supporting developing countries to give them a leg up. On the international stage, we are laggards when it comes to foreign aid, well behind Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, all of whom donate 0.7 per cent of gross national income or more, as per the target suggested by our own Lestor Pearson.
Not that the Liberals have boosted our numbers, in fact, we hover around the 0.26 per cent mark. At a time when around 137,000 people are being lifted out of extreme poverty around the world every single day, I do not want to see us move backwards. Cutting foreign aid is certainly not on my radar, Mr. Scheer.
Connie Lebeau
Victoria