Evidence of meeting #31 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Anick Ouellette  Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Planning, Finance and Information Technology, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Leslie MacLean  Deputy Minister of International Development, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development
Joshua Tabah  Director General, Health and Nutrition, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

3:50 p.m.

Bloc

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

Thank you, Ms. Ouellette.

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

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON

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

3:50 p.m.

Bloc

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?

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON

Can you repeat your question?

3:50 p.m.

Bloc

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?

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

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.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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?

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

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.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON

You are talking about Canada's Middle East strategy.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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

Yes, exactly.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON

All right.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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

How much of this funding goes to your department?

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON

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

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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?

April 29th, 2021 / 3:55 p.m.

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.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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?

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

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.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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

Yes, go ahead. That's fine.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

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.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Karina Gould Liberal Burlington, ON

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

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

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?

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

Peter Fonseca Liberal Mississauga East—Cooksville, ON

Mr. Chair, I'm not getting translation.

3:55 p.m.

Liberal

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?