Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise in the House to speak on behalf of the incredible citizens of Calgary Midnapore, who I am so incredibly proud to represent.
Motion No. 14 is, of course, regarding Canada's international development assistance. As I am a former diplomat for Canada, this is of special interest to me. I have had the opportunity to serve abroad and to be just a small part of the implementation of Canadian development programming. Coming from this diplomatic background, I have had a bit of time to experience this and to consider my thoughts on the reasoning for foreign aid and the reasoning for international development.
For me, it is primarily two things. The first thing is the hope that all of humanity could have the incredible historic standard of living we had in Canada, which is something absolutely wonderful. The second reason is that we, as a nation, could be investing against future problems for Canada. I think these are both very solid reasons and considerations for foreign aid. I will expand on each of these ideas.
The first one, as I said, is the hope that all of humanity could have the incredible historic standard of living we had in Canada. I would go so far to say, as a developed democratic nation, it is our obligation to help other nations on the road to democracy. Nothing feels better than helping other people. I know my colleagues in the House would most certainly agree with that since we get the opportunity to do this as members of Parliament.
When I was consul and chargé for Canada in El Salvador, I really enjoyed implementing the Canada fund. This was at a very special time in the history of El Salvador, certainly not the El Salvador we see now under Bukele, but a time where there was still much insecurity and instability within El Salvador. Our funding through the Canada fund was for children's organized sports. This gave me a lot of joy because I knew that, with Canada investing in this, we were investing in the security and the safety of Salvadorans and of the nation of El Salvador.
To be raised in Calgary Midnapore is to have the best standard of living in the world. Calgary is consistently ranked as one of the world's most livable cities, and Midnapore itself was recently ranked as the third-best community in the city of Calgary. My favourite thing about this is that citizens of Calgary Midnapore have historically recognized that energy is the reason we have had this amazing standard of living. It is the reason I got to swim in Lake Bonavista every summer with my school friends and then skate on it in the winter. As I said, this was until recently. Things have changed in Canada, and they do not allow for the standard of living we once had.
These are some of those things. Canada has fallen to 27th place in the global quality of life index, dropping from ninth place, where it was a decade ago. It is the largest decline among the world's top 30 countries. There were 2.2 million visits to food banks in March 2025, the highest number in Canadian history, and 700,000 of those food bank visitors were children. Food bank usage has doubled since March 2019. GDP per person has decreased by 2% from 2020 to 2024, the worst five-year decline since the Great Depression. Things are not what they were once upon a time in Canada, but my hope is that all citizens of the world would experience the standard of living that we once had in Canada.
My second major thought about the purpose of foreign aid and international development is that aid is an investment against future problems Canada might possibly incur. I will expand upon this. I am always stunned by the short-sightedness of those who do not understand this. Strong nations can trade with Canada. Once again, when I was the consul and chargé for Canada in El Salvador, I worked on the CA4 agreement, which I believe ended up just being between Canada and Honduras. Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to work on that and present that to the Salvadoran government at the time.
As well, there is former prime minister Harper's incredible work in the Asia-Pacific. Our side has always recognized that more trade means more prosperity for Canada.
Having strong nations means that people will not be displaced, that they can live and thrive in their homelands, and that there is not the necessity for other developed nations to absorb these people because they have been given the opportunity to succeed as a result of foreign aid. Having strong nations means that there are fewer wars and that we do not have to send our sons and daughters into conflict. The thought of my son going off to war keeps me awake at night. I pray for every parent who has to send their son or daughter into conflict.
Foreign aid promotes stability. However, if we are going to do international development, we have to do it right. For me, this means three things. Number one, it should align with our shared values. Former prime minister Stephen Harper did this perfectly, as opposed to the other side, from which we just saw this conflict this weekend when the Prime Minister said that upholding Canadian values will occur but dropped talk of feminist foreign policy, yet the women and gender equality minister is still working to make sure that Ottawa is tackling gender-based violence. Which is it? Is it one or the other?
Former prime minister Stephen Harper had a crystal clear vision for foreign policy. I will give three examples. The first one is the Muskoka initiative, which went on to significantly decrease mortality for those under the age of five. I had the opportunity to experience this on an incredible trip to Kenya with Results Canada. I want to thank them again for that. I had the opportunity to see, first-hand, mothers and children thriving. I had an opportunity to see these incredible facilities that exist as a result of former prime minister Stephen Harper's vision.
Another example I will give is that of the Americas strategy. When I worked as policy adviser for former minister Kent at that time, these principles were firmly founded upon democracy, justice and prosperity. Do members know what else I really liked about the Americas strategy? No money was given to dictators. No money was given to terrorist organizations, something that the government has a serious problem with. There was no money for Cuba and there was no money for Venezuela. There was only money to promote democracy abroad.
Finally, my third example is the monitoring of elections in Ukraine—