This is not time to cut foreign aid

In January, Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada’s minister of international development, wrote in an opinion piece that “the world’s richest one per cent own 99 per cent of our planet’s wealth. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is contributing to global unrest, political instability, conflict and migratory crises . ... Concrete actions are what we need, both in the interest of developing countries and Canada’s own.”

But after Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced Canada will have to do “more with less” foreign aid spending, Bibeau said in an interview that “Canada is really committed to improve the lives of the poorest, and we have poor people in Canada, too, so these are very difficult decisions to make.”

Freezing aid in no way guarantees help for the poor in this country. Address that by disallowing the widening gap Bibeau spoke about in January.

And freezing aid will do nothing to mitigate “global unrest, political instability, conflict and migratory crises” that might well cost much more than increasing aid.

Aid is needed to protect world health against Ebola and drug-resistant TB, for example. Aid is needed to improve nutrition and support education for girls. And aid is especially needed to meet the Global Goals for Sustainable Development initiative by 2030, endorsed by 193 nations of the world.

Pamela Walden-Landry, Montreal