I endorse the concept. At this moment in time, Canadian funds should be supporting Canadian initiatives. This is not to exclude the importance of, say, international development or doing pro-democracy work overseas, especially in the vacuum of American largesse abroad. At this moment in time, if there are resources the federal government can use to empower local actors in a non-partisan way, it should do that.
You will obviously need some sort of arm's-length intermediary to execute grants, implement funds and ensure that funds are actually being issued to actors of all political persuasions and for different causes, but I recommend the idea. I wish we had.... We have a lot of philanthropy in the United States, but I think this sort of mechanism should exist in many countries.
Canada would be leading the way for a lot of countries to take similar steps in the future if it did this.