LILLEY: Poilievre is right, Carney is wrong on foreign aid

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Canada’s federal government spent almost as much money on foreign aid as they spent on supporting post-secondary education, social assistance, and social services inside Canada. In fiscal year 2022-23, we spent $15.5 billion on foreign countries while the Canada Social Transfer from the federal government to all provinces and territories was $15.9 billion that same year.

For comparison, Canada spent $5.4 billion on all of Veterans Affairs in that same fiscal year. As Justin Trudeau would say, veterans are asking for more than we, or Liberals, can give.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre thinks too much of that money is going to the wrong people and he’s looking to cut it, but Liberal Leader Mark Carney thinks Poilievre is being cruel and heartless.

Trust me when I say that there is plenty of money that could be cut from Canada’s foreign-aid budget that would not hurt the lives of any real people, just those skimming the system. Example after example shows money being wasted in areas that have nothing to do with helping people in need.

“We will cut wasteful foreign aid to dictators, terrorists and multinational bureaucracies, and we will use the savings to bring down taxes and deficits in order to make your life more affordable,” Poilievre said.

While Poilievre is clear on whom he wants to cut from foreign aid and why, Carney just labels this all as being just like Donald Trump.

“So, Elon Musk stands up and says, and the Trump administration eliminates foreign aid within a few days, Pierre Poilievre flies in and out of Nunavut and says, ‘I’m going to eliminate foreign aid,’” Carney said Sunday.

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Perhaps it is that Carney has spent most of the last decade running foreign-based banks and companies that he doesn’t realize this is a promise that Poilievre was making three years ago during the 2022 Conservative leadership race. Carney hasn’t really been in the country, so he isn’t in touch with the country, kind of like that celebrity who has lived outside of Canada since the late 80s that Carney keeps doing ads with.

Here are some examples of misplaced foreign-aid money that we, as Canadian taxpayers, are paying for.

Just before the election was called, the Carney government – he had taken over by then – offered up $99 million in funding for Gaza and the West Bank, including $30 million for the Palestinian Authority. Gaza is still controlled by the terrorist group Hamas, there is no aid that isn’t touched by, if not stolen outright by Hamas.

Just as when we fund UNRWA, we are directly supporting terrorism with this supposed humanitarian aid.

As for the Palestinian Authority, this supposedly more moderate group that is in charge of the West Bank, still offers pay for slay through the martyrs fund. While there have been changes, this fund — as it has been described by Bloomberg — is an incentive program for killing Jews.

It’s not just questionable funding in and around Israel that could be cut.

For example, why on earth would Canada be spending $350 million to make private companies in Asia become more climate resilient?

In 2018 and 2019, Global Affairs Canada spent $41 million on three properties that have since been handed back to the Taliban. The Government of Canada report on spending for 2022-2023 still lists $45 million in aid for Afghanistan even though the Taliban took over the country in 2021.

We spent $2 million that year on helping Venezuelan migrants fleeing their bizarre socialist government in Ecuador and another $2 million for migrants in Colombia and Peru.

There are smaller matters at play as well such as $12,520 to fund a stage production where local seniors in foreign countries told their best sex stories in places like Vienna, Austria, Melbourne, Australia and Taipei City, Taiwan.

This makes about as much sense as Canada spending money to sponsor the BBC in the U.K. so that they could produce a radio show supporting gender equality in Tanzania. That project cost you more than $1.5 million dollars that could have been spent on Canadians.

There is a place for foreign aid to assist people in need, the funds described above don’t qualify and they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Poilievre isn’t being Trump-like in calling for an end for funds like this; it’s putting Canada first, for a change.