Following the budget, Cooperation Canada released a statement, with more than 100 organizations that stood behind us, expressing disappointment at a time, as I said, of escalating humanitarian need, but also at a time when Canada is seeking to diversify its partnerships globally. One of the policy tools in our tool box is international assistance. As you said, slashing aid at a time when we are seeking to diversify our relationships and foreign policy posture, from our perspective, did not seem the right move.
As you have rightly said, other countries are slashing aid budgets. Obviously, with our neighbour to the south, the very fast dismantling of USAID has had devastating effects across the world.
Let me be very frank. We are aware that we are facing fiscal constraints as a country. There are very real affordability challenges that are facing Canadians, yet our point is that at less than 2% of the federal budget, this is a very strategic and sound investment for Canada to be making at a time when we need to be diversifying our foreign policy relationships, engaging in a very complex geopolitical context and really stepping up. We are not expecting Canada to fill all of the gaps left by countries like the U.S. retreating, but we do think it's important that we do our fair share. Our position is that slashing the aid budget by $2.7 billion was not the right move at this moment in time.