Foreign Affairs Department to Merge With Aid Agency

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Harper government has made the decision of integrating Canada’s foreign aid agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Additionally, it is planning to control billions in spending on military equipment for making Canada a major arms exporter. Both of these controversial news were revealed in the highly anticipated federal budget, which has annulled previous doubts regarding the government’s wish to use all means possible for advancing Canadian business and commercial interests throughout the world.

The Canadian International Development Agency was formed in 1968, with an aim of helping the world’s most poorest people and most undeveloped countries find their feet and become self-sufficient. Over the years, it has been beneficial to keep CIDA separate from Foreign Affairs, which also helped assuring that Canadian aid dollars were actually used to alleviate poverty in the developing world. However, having said that, keeping both departments separated, given the technicalities the long-term and complex nature of international development, implied that CIDA often had an afterthought in Ottawa, subject to the whims of whatever minister was in charge.

The Harper government has made numerous amendments to Canadian foreign aid in the past few years. It has detached long-standing alliances with numerous non-governmental organizations, declined help to the world’s poorest countries as aid recipients, and more severely associated Canadian aid efforts with private sector activities. However, the latest decision of merging the Canadian International Development Agency with Foreign Affairs is arguably the most controversial change as it formally links Canada’s foreign policy, development and trade objectives.