Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Canadian spending on International Development

oilfanforever · 05-10-2017, 01:42 PM

As part of my work, I am often discussing Canada's role in the world, and how Canadian foreign aid, or international assistance plays a role, in addition to our diplomatic and defense efforts. That said, this conversation is usually being had with people that work in the sector, or have a direct interest in some way so views are overly biased.

I'm curious what the fine people of CP think about how much Canada is doing, or not doing - and how much you care, one way or the other.

For a bit of background, international assistance is generally measured in Official Development Assistance (ODA) by the OECD. Canada spends roughly $5billion CAD (~2% of the federal budget) per year on international assistance which makes Canada the 11th largest donor after the U.S., Germany, U.K., France, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Norway, and Spain.

Perhaps more interesting is the international measure of 'generosity' which is ODA/Gross National Income, where Canada is 15th, providing only 0.26% of GNI, where Norway is at 1%, the U.K. at 0.7%, and so on.

Do you feel like as Canadians we should be doing more, or at least be in line with our peers in other open medium sized economies?

Why or why not?

05-10-2017, 01:42 PM	#1
oilfanforever Scoring Winger Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Washington D.C. Exp:	Canadian spending on International Development As part of my work, I am often discussing Canada's role in the world, and how Canadian foreign aid, or international assistance plays a role, in addition to our diplomatic and defense efforts. That said, this conversation is usually being had with people that work in the sector, or have a direct interest in some way so views are overly biased. I'm curious what the fine people of CP think about how much Canada is doing, or not doing - and how much you care, one way or the other. For a bit of background, international assistance is generally measured in Official Development Assistance (ODA) by the OECD. Canada spends roughly $5billion CAD (~2% of the federal budget) per year on international assistance which makes Canada the 11th largest donor after the U.S., Germany, U.K., France, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy, Norway, and Spain. Perhaps more interesting is the international measure of 'generosity' which is ODA/Gross National Income, where Canada is 15th, providing only 0.26% of GNI, where Norway is at 1%, the U.K. at 0.7%, and so on. Do you feel like as Canadians we should be doing more, or at least be in line with our peers in other open medium sized economies? Why or why not?