It’s not as if there’s a lack of poor nations in the world that could use Canada’s assistance.

Among those Canada was slated to give aid to this year were Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Senegal and Vietnam.

The need in all these countries is great. That’s why it’s so shocking that Canada’s Foreign Affairs department has failed to spend $125.9 million that had been budgeted this year to alleviate poverty in those countries. Instead of spending the $917 million it had initially set aside, it spent only $792 million.

The Foreign Affairs department says its spending reflects a shift in several low-income countries to crisis/disaster funding.

Still, poverty reduction is the main underlying principle of Canada’s Official Development Accountability Act. And it’s not as if Canada can’t step up to the bar with crisis funding, too. Our foreign aid budget is already markedly low for a G-8 country at 0.27 per cent of GDP, down from 0.5 per cent under former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. On Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s watch, alone, Canada’s foreign aid budget has plummeted by $700 million.

Other members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have made foreign aid a much bigger priority. Great Britain, for one, has raised its contribution to 0.7 per cent of GDP, the level the United Nations has recommended as a target.

This is money the selected countries were counting on. For example, the difference between Canada’s planned and actual spending in Bangladesh alone was $19.4 million, a full quarter of budgeted spending.

This isn’t saving money. As Roland Paris, founding director of the University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies, told the Star: “This is money that had been allocated to reduce poverty and improve the lives of people living in this country.”

Paris wonders what the motivation might be. “There’s a pattern of stealth budget cutting,” he says. “Not just in Foreign Affairs but in other departments. It’s a worrisome trend.”

It’s one that other critics have attributed to the Conservative government trying to increase its surplus in time for next year’s federal election.

If the government is indeed playing politics with poverty, it is shameful.

The irony is that despite Canada’s low spending, as a percentage of GDP, on foreign aid, the country has won widespread admiration for Harper’s personal commitment to a $2.85-billion child and maternal health program that also focuses on girls’ education.

By cutting aid for poor countries, Canada risks losing that good will on the world stage – never mind that it is abandoning poor countries that were banking on Canada’s aid.

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Governments don’t give foreign aid to poor countries for purely altruistic reasons. Getting them on their feet prevents more expensive crises, such as wars and famines, down the road – and contributes to global security.

Ottawa needs to rethink its actions on poverty reduction and deliver the aid it has promised. Those in need are depending on it.

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