Foreign Affairs Committee on April 29th, 2021

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Ouellette.

At present, approximately what percentage of GDP is spent on development assistance?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Last year it was 0.31%. This was recently announced by the OECD Development Assistance Committee.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

It went from 0.27% to 0.31%, but one of the reasons for this is that GDP has shrunk. Am I wrong?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Can you repeat your question?

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

This is due to the fact that GDP has shrunk. So it's not necessarily new funding. The percentage has gone up because GDP has shrunk, hasn't it?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

It also includes an increase in the total volume. Ms. Ouellette could elaborate on that, but I think about $600 million was added last year.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Okay. So that's not what has increased the proportion of GDP devoted to it by 0.04 percentage points. Thank you very much.

I would point out that 0.31% is still lower than the percentage under the Harper government, I believe. That was just a quick comment.

Madam Minister, Budget 2021 proposes to provide $527 million in 2021-2022 to Global Affairs Canada, the Department of National Defence, Communications Security Establishment Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to extend Canada's Middle East strategy for another year.

Of this amount, how many millions of dollars go to your department?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

I think it's about $700 million for this fiscal year, but that doesn't include the $1.7 billion amount that was added last year.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

No, you misunderstood me, Madam Minister.

In Budget 2021, there is $527 million. This is one of the budget's themes.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

You are talking about Canada's Middle East strategy.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Yes, exactly.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

All right.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

How much of this funding goes to your department?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

My understanding is that it's $67 million, but Ms. Ouellette can confirm that.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

So it's $67 million out of $527 million. So which department gets the better part of the $527 million?

[Leslie MacLean, Deputy Minister of International Development, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development]

Madam Minister, allow me to comment.

I believe that the bulk of this funding will go to the Department of National Defence.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

All right.

Madam Minister, does it not make you uncomfortable that the largest budget item in the “Building a Safer, Resilient and Equitable World” category of Budget 2021 is predominantly administered by the National Defence?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, that's an excellent question, because Canada's Middle East strategy is primarily funded from our existing budgetary reserves.

I'll continue in English because I'm not getting the words right.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Yes, go ahead. That's fine.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

Basically, when it comes to the Middle East strategy, the majority of the development funds come from our existing reference levels. This is in addition to what we are already providing. But for National Defence, they don't have that money in their existing reference levels. They are getting it for this additional year.

We already have the bulk of the funding. The $77 million is in addition to what we already have.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I understand, but this is a new initiative and it's said to be about building a safer, resilient and equitable world, when it's the National Defence that gets the bulk of the funding.

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Burlington, ON]

This is not a new initiative; it is an extension.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

All right. We will not dwell on this, Madam Minister.

Do I have enough time left to ask a quick question, Mr. Chair?

[Peter Fonseca, Liberal, Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm not getting translation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sven Spengemann]

You have approximately one minute left, but there seems to be a problem with interpretation. I will stop the clock.

Does everybody have interpretation?

Monsieur Fonseca, are you picking up interpretation?