by Harvey Oberfeld
April 14, 2024
Foreign aid is good: it is a way for wealthier nations to share the bounty of its success with those less fortunate.
I understand … and so do most Canadians.
But apparently unlike Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen, I … and most Canadians … also realize that these days, far too many Canadians are hurting too … really hurting: not just unable to pay their rent or even have a place to call home, but also unable to feed their families or, often, even themselves.
Almost two million Canadians now visit food banks each month … the highest figure ever recorded. (And this does not cover others too proud to even go … and who do without or show up at private charity food kitchens, when they get hungry enough.)
“With food banks across Canada in crisis mode, as demand reaches new all-time highs, we must ask: when is it enough before we act?” urges Kirstin Beardsley, chief executive officer, Food Banks Canada,” according to a report published in November.
(You can read the details here: https://lbbonline.com/news/food-banks-across-canada-experience-overwhelming-demand-with-almost-2-million-visits-in-1-month.)
In Canada! In 2024! Not enough government-operated assistance programs to feed our own people … despite record-high taxes, record-high government spending, record-high deficits and record-high debt!
But Trudeau and Hussen have $132 MILLION of Canadian taxpayers’ money to send to Africa to feed impoverished Sudanese (if that’s where the money/aid will really end up!).
Not $1.3 million, not $13.2 million … but $132 million!
The United States …with a population ten times ours and an economy more than ten times that of Canada “already the single largest donor to humanitarian efforts in Sudan, is providing an additional $246 million to help people in Sudan — as well as in Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and the Central African Republic,” the US government reported.
So double the aid, with ten times our population and ten times our GDP!
And Americans face tax burdens, housing costs, fuel costs, grocery costs and consumer goods costs MUCH lower than Canadians.
The UK, with a population of 67 million, has pledged 89 Million Pounds … $152 million Cad; France, a country of 68 million, has promised 55 Million Euros … $80 million Cad; and Europe’s richest nation, Germany, with a population of 83 million, has offered 200 million Euros, or $293 million Cad.
So why/how does Canada have so much money to send overseas to help the Sudanese (in addition to the $6.9 Billion dollars in aid we provide annually to other countries) ?
Once again, Trudeau and his government seem oblivious to the realities and struggles being faced and endured by so many Canadians.
Maybe other countries should take a look at Canada’s poor and provide us with foreign aid too, so all our people can have roofs over their heads and all our families, kids, seniors can go to bed without being hungry.
