Mr. Speaker, the next petition is regarding the Liberals' so-called feminist international assistance policy. Petitioners note that the Muskoka initiative, launched by the previous Conservative government, involved historic investments in the well-being of women and girls around the world and that the initiative emphasized value for money and ensured that investments were made in priorities identified by local women.
By contrast, petitioners say that the Liberal government's approach has shown a lack of respect for the cultural values and the autonomy of women in the developing world by supporting organizations that violate local laws at the expense of international development priorities like clean water, access to basic nutrition and economic development, and that it pushes ideology at the expense of local priorities.
The petitioners also note how the Liberals' approach to international development for women and girls has been criticized by the Auditor General for its failure to measure results.
The petitioners call on the Government of Canada to align international development spending with the approach taken in the Muskoka initiative and to focus international development dollars on meeting the basic needs of vulnerable women around the world, rather than pushing ideological agendas that may conflict with local values in developing countries.
Petitioners also want to see better measurement of the outcomes in the work being done by the government.