McLeod Group guest blog by Adrian Murray, June 3, 2020
Will the COVID-19 pandemic pit countries against each other or will it promote global solidarity? Despite frequent public statements to the contrary, Canada’s actions would suggest that unfortunately we are not all in this together.
In early April, Minister of International Development Karina Gould insisted that: “The COVID-19 virus knows no borders. This has been a wake-up call for the world to stand in solidarity and work together. If there was ever a time for countries and governments to support one another and invest in health globally, it is right now.”
Canada has not, however, increased its aid budget or shifted its international development policy trajectory to adequately respond to the pandemic. If Canada wishes to live up to its commitments, it needs to take immediate and significant action to support the world’s most vulnerable and transition to a more equitable and sustainable post-pandemic world.
Canada’s Global Response
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has made several announcements in response to COVID-19. The most notable is Minister Gould’s commitment of $159.5 million in early April, including $84.5 million for the multilateral response led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN agencies, $40 million for vaccine development and $30 million for bilateral initiatives.
GAC subsequently announced $600 million in replenishment funding for the GAVI Vaccine Alliance, $190 million for polio eradication, contributions to annual humanitarian appeals and support for the WHO, all the more important in the context of the pandemic.
Canada was also part of a G20 decision to temporarily suspend debt repayment by the world’s poorest nations. Canadian NGOs have welcomed these announcements, the government’s commitment to multilateralism, and its strong statements prioritizing sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equity in response to the pandemic.
The Rhetoric and Reality of Canadian ODA
The $159.5 million Canada pledged to respond directly to COVID-19 around the world is, however, a tiny proportion – 1.1% – of the government’s $146 billion response to the pandemic thus far. Moreover, these new commitments will be met using previously unallocated aid funds, while the contributions to vaccination programs were first announced almost a year ago. In other words, none of the funding for Canada’s global COVID-19 response is actually new.
Canada’s commitments also pale in comparison to the efforts of many of its peers. Norway, for example, made larger contributions than Canada to the vaccine appeal mentioned above, despite its significantly smaller economy. While the yawning gap between rhetoric and reality when it comes to the actual magnitude of Canadian foreign aid is nothing new, this failure to step up in the face of the global pandemic is damning.
What is more, as Canada’s aid levels stagnate, it has increasingly prioritized partnerships with the private sector, often reallocating aid funds towards dubious initiatives. The pro-privatization agenda of international donors and lenders has undermined livelihoods and hollowed out the public provision of healthcare, water and sanitation and other essential services. Now, according to Oxfam, as a result of the pandemic, in the context of inadequate public services, widespread unemployment and precarious work and skyrocketing household debt, half a billion people risk falling into poverty in developing countries alone.
And yet, as demonstrated by the priorities outlined in a High-Level Event on Financing for Development and COVID-19, co-hosted by Prime Minister Trudeau late last week, despite the inclusion of language around decent work, gender quality and inclusive green growth, Canada and other donors refuse to substantively deviate from this agenda.
The Unthinkable
But in response to COVID-19, the “unthinkable” has happened. Countries around the world have rolled out massive plans to tackle the pandemic including unprecedented public investments in health and related services and unconditional cash transfers to residents, all supported by fiscal and monetary measures long considered impossible or unacceptable.
Even relatively poorly resourced countries such Vietnam and Cuba and the Indian state of Kerala have achieved great success in limiting the virus’s spread, putting in place rapid and efficient public health responses, while providing material solidarity beyond their borders.
In light of these extraordinary measures and the magnitude of ongoing investment required to ensure that we leave no one behind in our response to the pandemic and its aftermath, Canada’s global response both misses the mark and falls far short.
Crisis creates opportunity
A more equitable future cannot be realized through business as usual. It will require massive global public investment in sustainable public services and infrastructure, centring the ethics of care and the right to health, education, recreation, etc. In other words, we need a Global Green New Deal.
A global debt jubilee, as opposed to a simple moratorium on payments, is also essential: 41 countries currently spend more servicing their debt than they do on healthcare. A new global development financial architecture is also required to eliminate capital flight and clamp down on tax evasion. These measures would increase domestic resource mobilization in the Global South, the largest and most sustainable source of development finance.
Rather than empty promises that we are “all in this together,” Canada could orient new aid investments towards truly sustainable development based on a collective future that prioritizes human and ecological health and people over profit, that is, supporting the universal provision of essential public services.
This future is possible, and foreign aid can contribute to realizing it. The question is, will Canada step up?
Adrian Murray is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University.