Canadian external aid should be used efficiently, be transparent: minister – national

The deputy supervises External aid She says that Canada should take a more efficient and more clear approach to development Humanitarian assistance To clarify the issue of maintaining aid spending with the blockage of the United States.

“Those who remain in the session should be smarter and need to be more diverse,” said Randeb Sarai, Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Development.

Sarai said that his higher priorities in the job are to ensure the spending of the dollar of Canadian aid efficiently and to give Canadians and assistants a better idea of ​​the place where the money goes.

“This does not mean that the grain bag needs a maple leaf,” he said. As the brand can play a role, the government can also spread its mission through social media and awareness campaigns in receiving countries, and perhaps through the governmental books based on the government.

He said: “Canadians will be happier, and I think these beneficiaries will have better value, respect and admiration for Canada and help it.” “This is definitely a priority.”

Canadians should know how their aid dollars work, for example, flood -resistant areas exposed to natural disasters or providing farmers with climate reference crops.

He said: “The seed of the potatoes that come from Prince Edward Island to a far part of the Philippines can take a family from maintaining themselves hardly to be able to feed themselves, but also put their children through education.”

Sarai worked as a lawyer in Sari, British Columbia before running for the Federal Office in the 2015 elections, when the liberals won the reign of Justin Trudeau with the majority government. He became the Secretary of Parliament for Old Warriors Affairs in the fall of 2023.

While his current role is less than a full ministerial portfolio, he places him responsible for overseeing the budget of aid in Canada and allows him to participate in some cabinet meetings.

Ottawa spent $ 12 billion on foreign aid in the fiscal year that ended in the spring of 2024, the last year that Global Affairs Canada.

Half was the spending of basic external aid, while $ 2.6 billion for loans and development financing, most of them for Ukraine. Another $ 2.6 billion went to the services of refugees who arrive in Canada, while the rest went largely to global projects such as the United Nations humanitarian calls and preventive health projects.

Sarai said that he would knock on the doors during the spring election campaign, convinced him that a few Canadians know where their aid dollars go.

He said: “This is what my priority is – how I can communicate and share it. How can I get the best uproar for Pack, the most effective way to get our aid to those who need more.”

Sarai said that Prime Minister Mark Carne told him “to cut some red tape” and move forward in continuous reform in global affairs in Canada for the bureaucracy that she uses to finance development and humanitarian projects.

Charitable societies have long claimed that the aid system in Canada is more complicated than those in their peers, with the requirements of abundant papers that delay grants and freezing smaller relief groups.

The administration said that it is trying to provide clearer guidance so that it can prevent the abuse, while allowing Canadian organizations to expand their arrival through partnership with smaller stone groups.

Outaoa relief groups have criticized because of its great reduction in development work in Afghanistan since the Taliban recycled the country in August 2021.

Many Canada’s allies issued comprehensive exemptions for terrorist financing rules to allow development workers to pay local employees without accusing them of financing terrorism through Taliban taxes on salaries.

Instead chose a complex permit system that was widely criticized.

Sarai said that the broader reforms undertaken by his ministry will ensure that Canadian organizations can access the financing that Ottawa allocates to projects abroad.

Canadian non -profit organizations have been preparing for the worst since the United States began to reduce aid budget.

On behalf of US President Donald Trump, billionaire Elon Musk has placed thousands of employees of the United States Agency for International Development on paid leave, freezing payments and assistance shipments around the world.

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Canadian non -profit organizations say that many of their projects have escaped from the regulations run by the American Agency for International Development or the United Nations that relied on great American financing.

The relief sector has been more frustrated by the results of the last G7 summit, hosted by Canada. World leaders of the summit have not made a great commitment to joint spending to help residents who face conflict and hunger in places such as Sudan, Myanmar and the Palestinian territories.

Canada promised in the Group of Seven to spend $ 391.3 million “to stimulate private capital towards economic growth and develop development projects around the world.” Ottawa has not yet said where and when the financing will be used.

The federal government also said it allocated “up to $ 544 million” as loans for “financing the new development in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

During the spring elections, Carney said he would not follow the example of the United States or some European countries by reducing aid. He said that Canada’s approach “to be generous and to be effective in supporting us for those who are most at risk all over the world.”

Sarai said that Carney’s decision to maintain aid is aware that diseases do not respect the borders, that hunger and poverty leads to waves of refugees, and that countries that receive Canadian aid are more open to Canadian trade.

He said that Carney’s message is likely that Canadian aid needs “to be smarter, more creative, so that we can do more with the same amount of dollars.” The government still has not issued a budget indicating whether the flow of aid will remain fixed or see an increase or a decrease.

Sarai in Brussels this week for the pledge summit with Javi, the Global Calf alliance. Ottawa has not announced new funding for the alliance at the top. Then he goes to Spain to attend the United Nations Conference to finance development with private society and civil society.

It is expected to participate next month at the G20 meeting of South Africa, and perhaps a summit in the Suleiman Islands, which focuses on adapting to climate change.

Sarai said that his talks with ambassadors in Ottawa and the Zara figures left him were surprised by the depth and scope of Canada’s international reputation for multi -part.

“The world still sees Canada in a very good light. We have no history colonizing other countries,” he said.

“We have played important roles before, and we must continue to play these roles.”