A decision by the federal Conservative government to cut $319 million from the international aid budget within two years is being condemned by aid groups.
In his deficit-cutting March 29 budget, finance minister Jim Flaherty announced that the budget of the Canadian International Development Agency will feel the full effects of the cuts by the 2014-15 fiscal year.
The International Development Research Centre budget will take a $23 million hit that year.
The budget said the savings will come as CIDA becomes more focused, efficient and accountable.
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“CIDA will restructure its operations to reduce its operational costs and concentrate its efforts where it can have the greatest impact,” it said.
Aid groups rejected the justification.
Oxfam Canada accused the Conservative government of “turning its back on the world’s poor.”
It had called on Ottawa to use the budget to lift its four-year freeze on the $5 billion budget. Instead, there were cuts.
“On the generosity index, this budget moves Canada closer to the bottom of the world’s 22 donor countries,” said Oxfam policy co-ordinator Mark Fried. “Why is the government saving money on the backs of the world’s most vulnerable people?”
World Vision Canada, often supportive of government efforts to focus aid on target countries to make it more effective, also condemned the cuts.
CIDA minister Bev Oda had not responded to criticisms of the cuts by press time.
