McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown and Gloria Novovic, October 18, 2022

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland recently gave a headline-grabbing foreign policy speech in Washington, DC. At the event, hosted by the Brookings Institution on October 11, she outlined her prescription for the international order, which has since been described as the “Freeland Doctrine”. 

Though refreshing for its plain talk, Freeland’s speech was oddly reminiscent of the Harper ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Daniel Livermore, August 9, 2022

If the stars align, the year 2023 promises to be key for decisions about Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian foreign service. Two studies are now under way: in the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, launched in February 2022, and at Global Affairs itself, announced by the Minister and Deputy Minister on May 30.

Both studies will address an issue that has ...

McLeod Group blog by Hunter McGill, June 2, 2022

After shrinking in the final years of the Harper government, Canadian foreign aid was back up in 2021 to where it had been in 2011 and 2012: 0.32% of Gross National Income. An achievement of sorts, but not a big one, especially considering that the international target, agreed at the United Nations in 1970, is 0.7%. Where did the additional funds go and how does the Canadian increase compare to its peers?

The ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Gloria Novovic and Stuart Trew, April 21, 2022

Recently, the federal government issued Budget 2022, unveiling plans for “Canada’s leadership in the world”. This leadership role, however, is questionable. In 2020, Canada’s failed bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council confirmed what many observers had been warning about: that Canada lacks a coherent foreign policy. Instead, we have vague assurances of Canada’s commitment to the so-called rules-based international order ...

McLeod Group blog by Betty Plewes and Brian Tomlinson, April 19, 2022

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, made a powerful plea to northern countries at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow last year: “We have come here to say two degrees of global warming is a death sentence for millions. Try harder, try harder.”

It is one of the tragedies of the global climate crisis that those countries that are the least responsible for creating the ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Nyambura Githaiga, April 13, 2022

The war in Ukraine is leading to a drop in food production, higher food prices and an increased risk of famine around the world. High-income countries should take three steps to help prevent hunger from spreading. First, avoid sanctions on food and fertilizer. Second, increase food assistance in step with higher food prices. Third, prioritize famine prevention.

Before the war, global hunger was already on the rise. Over the past few years, ...

McLeod Group blog by Stephen Brown, April 11, 2022

We have to give credit when credit is due, but also recognize obfuscations when we see them. The Canadian government’s 2022 budget, released on April 7, provides opportunities for both regarding development assistance. There is not much to parse, though, as not even two full pages of the 280-page budget document are devoted to “international assistance”. In them, there is some good news, but little by way of new ...

McLeod Group blog by Lauchlan T. Munro and Stephen Brown, February 8, 2022

The tweet from Cooperation Canada after the webinar said it all: ‘“We want to be a voice for the low-income countries”, explains @HarjitSajjan of Canada’s response to the pandemic #COVID19 around the world’. Funny thing, we thought the low-income countries could speak for themselves. In fact, they do. Often. It’s just that Canada is not particularly good at listening to them.

Above all, poor countries ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Thando Malambo, December 16, 2021

Despite growing calls for the decolonization of global health and the international aid industry more broadly, colonialist patterns continue to shape the language and response to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in relation to African countries. Colonial prejudices and narratives of Africa as a site of disease and contagion remain dominant in global health discourse, most recently evidenced by the knee-jerk reactions to the detection ...

McLeod Group guest blog by Najim Dost, November 22, 2021

Despite no longer making the headlines, the situation in Afghanistan is a lot worse now than it was in August, when the world watched in horror as people fell off a military airplane leaving Kabul Airport.

What should Canada do for Afghanistan? In four words: less talk, more action. George Marshall’s comments in the wake of post-WWII European rehabilitation couldn’t ring more true: “the ...