GATINEAU, Que. – Tying the international fight against hunger to concerns about terrorism and security is an effective way to justify Canada’s increasing commitment to food aid and development funding, says the minister in charge of the Canadian International Development Agency.
Aileen Carroll, an Ontario MP appointed to the international development portfolio in July, said most Canadians support greater aid spending.
The government is committed to increasing its support for international development and aid, including the goal of reducing poverty and hunger by 50 percent over a decade as set out in the Millennium Development Goal approved by governments several years ago.
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And while public opinion surveys suggest most Canadians support the goal on humanitarian grounds, alleviating poverty and hunger also serves the goal of increasing security, she said.
“Even for those who do not think we should do it because it is the just thing to do, I would suggest they should think we should do it if only to give us a sense of security,” she said.
“The more countries remain in those abysses (of poverty and hunger), the more despair sets in, the more likely they will become failed or failing states, the more you set off a series of dynamics that negatively impacts on the question of security.”
Carroll said Canada will double its aid budget by 2010, recovering from sharp cuts imposed by then-finance minister Paul Martin in the 1995 budget that launched the attack on the federal deficit. Now prime minister Martin wants to restore funding to help fight world poverty and hunger, she said.
“The prime minister is very supportive and he has an assertive minister here,” she said. “I have an excellent relationship with him and I won’t be shy about the job I’ve been given.”
She said at a time when much political attention is on security, it might be time to “find better language” to include the need for poverty and hunger alleviation as part of the fight against terrorism and for security.
Her comments came as United Nations World Food Program executive director James Morris was in Ottawa to thank Canada for its support.
“Canada’s support is simply incredible,” he said Nov. 22 during a reception hosted by Canada’s foreign affairs department. “I am here to thank Canada. Canada is one of the most generous countries in the world in support of the WFP.”
This year, Canada’s $150 million contribution makes it the fifth largest donor. However, Canada’s aid and development budget is less than half its official goal of 0.7 percent of gross national product.
“We are committed to doing more,” said Carroll. “If Canadians want the government to do more, they should communicate more.”
Still, she conceded that even with planned increases in the aid and agricultural development budget during the next six years, Canada will not meet its decades-old goal of 0.7 percent.
“It frequently is about how effective our aid is, rather than just the sheer volume of aid, although that would put us on the scoreboard,” she said.
“What I’m trying to do here with a very talented team (at CIDA) is to make our aid far more effective and to get a coherency and an integration that perhaps has eluded the agency somewhat in the past.”
