Thank you very much. I'll pass that along.
Good morning, honourable members and members of the public. As mentioned, my name is Kevin Bell. I'm a volunteer on behalf of Engineers Without Borders.
In budget 2018 we are asking that the government commit to a predictable annual timetable of increases to our international assistance envelope, of up to 0.31% of GNI within its first mandate. Currently our level of assistance is 0.26% of GNI, the lowest it's been in recent history, and it hasn't increased by a significant amount in quite some time. According to the OECD, global assistance has increased by 9%, but it's disappointing to see that Canada's own contributions have decreased by 4%.
If we increase funding, if we increase assistance, we will be able to achieve the sustainable development goals and grow the economy here and globally. In 2018 we hope to see the downward spending trend end so that Canada can meet its global commitments.
Thank you very much for your time.