Hundreds of Millions Wasted

Canada’s foreign assistance budget totaled roughly $5.6 billion in 2017, as Canadians worked together to give back even during a tough year. As forests of BC burned, the price of oil dropped, and the price of homes in two provinces fell we as Canadians continued to provide aid to the less fortunate. This is not a bad thing, in fact, it is something that most people find quintessentially Canadian.

Due to this complete lack of proper management, large amounts of aid go missing due to corruption. Even worse leaders in developing nations can become so dependent on easy aid, that they in some circumstances work against the improvement of their nation, hoping to enrich them and their families at the cost of the state and at the cost of our pockets.

Misplaced Aid

Sadly this year is no different and millions more will be lost due to foreign misuse.  Our only problem is that in an economy that is projected to remain in deficit until 2055 we simply cannot accept money being wasted to fatten the pockets of foreign dictators.

This year’s Transparency International corruption barometer placed the following ten countries as the worst offenders.

Sierra Leone:27.7
Kenya:110 million
Libya:3.2 million
Zimbabwe:20 million
Mozambique:121 million
Cameroon:22.1 million
Angola:5million
Equatorial Guinea:0.3 million
Uganda:43 million
Liberia:24 million

This means in the last year Canada gave a combined total of 376 million in foreign aid to countries ranked in the top 10 for corruption within Africa.

That is 376 million that in most circumstances will not help those in need of aid, and could have been used for far better purposes in Canada.  Even worse in 2010, over 100 million was lost to Kenya, and yet Kenya remains at the top of the list for foreign aid. This careless spending is a continued problem we are facing and it will take country wide revolt

This careless spending is a continued problem we are facing and it will take country wide revolt across party lines to demand better financial care.