It’s important for Canadians to support an increase in Canada’s International Assistance Envelope to reach a minimum of $10 billion annually in the 2025-26 federal budget.
The reasons I think the increase is important boil down to two.
First, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic remain deep and wide. The progress the world made in the last decade to fight poverty in all its forms have been reversed in the last few years. The “baseline” for the continued increase in IAE needs to be the current budget, not a pre-COVID number. This baseline better reflects the ongoing need to undo COVID’s effects.
Second, there is a growing hunger crisis that most of us are unaware of. According to the UN World Food Program, the number facing acute food insecurity is almost 350 million. Risks that increase the potential for the worsening of the crisis are the conflict in the Ukraine that impacts primarily distribution of grain to Africa, and the pending global recession.
We can’t afford to be so wrapped up in our own increasing prices, and they are a real concern, that we ignore the plight of others.
Randy Rudolph
Calgary
