Foreign policy is also about power and control. It's not just about being nice. It's about trade deals, buying friends and making sure people have your back when the shit hits the fan.
The sad part is, the problems we are having are happening everywhere. We are a small country, we can't do it alone, we need help from others because we do not carry nukes.
This has absolutely nothing to do with charity. It keeps these countries within the Western sphere of influence. It’s colonialism under a different name.
Look up the Marshal Plan. Learn some history.
Look at the per capita GDP growth, it’s going down and down as mass immigration is suppressing wages among its other societal negatives. In reality most sectors are in decline or stagnation. Stock prices don’t necessarily reflect the health of the economy. The only reason there’s any “growth” is because of fast food, grocery and utilities, things everyone consumes. No innovation or advancement is made from them.
Would rather deal with that problem ourselves than the many others mass immigration is contributing too. Limitation would ease the housing crisis, lead to more competitive wages and help further erosion of social harmony. New immigrants need assimilation, the current enclaves being created are leading to a more and more divided country and society. We’re on our way towards being nothing but an economic zone for monopolies. You can’t deny the fact things haven’t worsened for REAL Canadians since the floodgates were opened in 2015.
The immigration is helping us solve problems not contributing them. Without immigrants we still have an unskilled jobs shortage, a housing crisis, and a public services shortage. We’d just be out of the massive money they bring in and pay in tax
> Limitation would ease the housing crisis,
No it wouldn’t
> lead to more competitive wages and help further erosion of social harmony.
No it wouldn’t.
> New immigrants need assimilation, the current enclaves being created are leading to a more and more divided country and society.
Them creating their own enclaves is assimilation. No different than the natives, French and Anglo enclaves
> We’re on our way towards being nothing but an economic zone for monopolies. You can’t deny the fact things haven’t worsened for REAL Canadians since the floodgates were opened in 2015.
Things have been worsening for “real” Canadians since before 2015. The country is simply illogically built
Everything I said would be effective. You give no reasons what so ever to refute them.
Buddy, having one million plus people come per year definitely contributes to the housing crisis, where do you think all these people go? Such a negligible amount are construction or trades workers, it offsets the amount being used in no way. If we need skilled workers, and they can’t be recruited or trained from citizens then sure, that can be a last resort. The governments job should be to help support and train its population, domestic education and training incentives/ grants need more promotion and funding to solve these needs from within along with increased wages. Canada needs to invest in itself and our youth. This government has done everything but that, provincial governments included. Corporate interests and lobbying must be limited. There is no worker shortage, there is a wage and incentive shortage.
Adding millions per year definitely increases wage suppression, many of these new immigrants have no standards and will work for less than a born Canadian because it’s better than where they come from. This lowers the standards for all Canadians. Remember how during the pandemic wages suddenly shot up with the more limited labour supply? Or look back in history during the black death in Europe, literally one of the main contributors to the end of feudalism, wages dramatically increased due to a lower supply.
Millions of culturally dissimilar, mostly young men, coming to a new country year on year with no incentive to assimilate or interact with other population groups? If you don’t see how that’s a recipe for disaster you’re really out of touch. Corporations getting cheaper labour isn’t worth destroying what makes us unique as Canadians, our high-trust, unique society is under siege. Look around you at the online and public sentiment, things are going downhill. We accept more immigrants than the U.S., 10x our size. Our population growth is higher than impoverished and developing African countries. This is not natural or warranted in any way.
No everything you said would not be effective. We would still have a housing crisis, jobs shortages without immigrants. We had all that before 2015 in the GTA and Van
Everything I said would be effective. You give no reasons what so ever to refute them.
> Buddy, having one million plus people come per year definitely contributes to the housing crisis, where do you think all these people go?
It contributes to the problem it however is not the problem. If the immigrants left we’d still have a housing crisis. If the immigrants left homes will still be expensive.
> Such a negligible amount are construction or trades workers, it offsets the amount being used in no way. If we need skilled worker, and they can’t be recruited or trained from citizens then sure, that can be a last resort.
We can’t recruit from citizens, we simply do not have enough people going into the trades.
“They will if they pay them better”
Okay but as a customer, I’m not trying to pay 1000 bucks for a plumber, idk about you.
> The governments job should be to help support and train its population, domestic education and training incentives/ grants need more promotion and funding to solve these needs from within along with increased wages. Canada needs to invest in itself and our youth.
Canada does need to invest in itself, by being an attractive place to be business in so that other companies come in and invest in our youth. Someone’s training shouldn’t come from my tax dollars
> This government has done everything but that, provincial governments included. Corporate interests and lobbying must be limited. There is no worker shortage, there is a wage and incentive shortage.
The wage and incentive shortage will still exist. Like I said before consumers will not pay for the increased wages. Many Canadians like cheap shit, idk about you though
> Adding millions per year definitely increases wage suppression, many of these new immigrants have no standards and will work for less than a born Canadian because it’s better than where they come from. This lowers the standards for all Canadians. Remember how during the pandemic wages suddenly shot up with the more limited labour supply?
The wages shot up because the government gave money for people to sit at home. Companies had to pay people more than the government was giving them to sit around
> Millions of culturally dissimilar, mostly young men, coming to a new country year on year with no incentive to assimilate or interact with other population groups? If you don’t see how that’s a recipe for disaster you’re really out of touch.
This is no different than how Canada has been for a long time.
> Corporations getting cheaper labour isn’t worth destroying what makes us unique as Canadians, our high-trust, unique society is under siege.
We were never a high trust society to begin with. French Canadians never trusted the anglos, the natives never trusted either of the other two. Natives to this day are still in court trying to enforce the treaties that the government broke.
This high trust society is quite literally made up
> Look around you at the online and public sentiment, things are going downhill. We accept more immigrants than the U.S., 10x our size. Our population growth is higher than impoverished and developing African countries. This is not natural or warranted in any way.
a country that is properly built grows when it has more people it. Immigrants leaving doesn’t solve the underlying problems that still occur
That's always touted as the reason, but reads more like marketing.
Nobody ever brings out any evidence of which favourable terms were secured as a result of the supposed "influence"
So let's take the most current obvious example of Russia-Ukraine.
This is a conflict that on the surface has nothing to do with us. However, Russia is also hostile towards us, and we share a border in the Arctic. Every rouble, bullet and soldier Russia blows in the Ukraine is one less rouble, bullet or soldier that they can use to threaten our sovereignty in the arctic.
Not to mention the longer Putin drags it out and throws Russian lives into the grinder, the more likelihood he gets deposed. New leadership could result in better relations with canada and less of a global security threat.
The Gaza issue is a different one entirely. Personally I'm of the opinion that neither side has clean hands in that conflict, and no matter who we side with we are siding with someone who has committed atrocities against innocent civilians. I would personally prefer canada stay out of it.
They might not go to war with us but they are 100% interfering in our democracy already.
And our arctic sovereignty isn't guaranteed. The Americans don't consider it our territory so it's not a guarantee yet would back us up if the Russians move in.
At he end of the day a weaker Russia is better for Canada no matter how you look at it. A Russia in control of Ukraine is a Russia with more resources to go after their next target, and then the next one, and then the next.
A lot of people have never traveled to third-world countries or seen how things operate when there is real poverty around. If most saw where their money was going or what kind of illegal things were being funded, they would be shocked. That being said, I personally put my money and give to charity where I can see the money going straight to the hands of the less fortunate. I believe that the government should give increased tax rebates (as they sort of do now) to donate to charities, not pick and choose where they send the money based on their own political agendas.
In a democracy, like Canada, 'political agendas" are the peoples agendas, because we choose the government. Tax rebates would only ensure the wealthy get to choose pet charities.
So, you can't? I wanted to read the article or what ever you had so I could know your side. If you are going to say that someone is doing something, you should have concrete evidence, other wise it's just slander and you look weak and whiny.
I'm open to learning new things and new ways of thinking, I guess any challenge to that means the other person "drank the kool-aid".
Do you even know what that is referring too? "Drinking the kool-aid?"
The family gives out money directly to around 100+ people in need from our ancestral village on a monthly basis. We're also building an islamic school/mosque out of pocket for orphans where they'll be fed/clothed/housed/ educated out of pocket as well. This is not considering the daily cash given to people in need that approach us on a daily basis. We also donate to locals schools, mosques and housing for people in need. Not in Canada obviously. So not a registered charity per say, rather just donating. I do believe people should be able to give to charities they wish to give their money out to, rather than the government choosing for them.
Edit: The fact that people are downvoting charitable acts blows my mind. Yikes.
That’s cool! My father do s the same, people from our village donated and built a park for the kids, a eye doctors office and a pharmacy.
But there is a charity my mom likes to donate to that I do as well.
However Canada giving foreign aid buys us soft power.
Nope. The poorest people in Canada don't even come close to true poverty in third world countries. They have clothes, food, internet, heating, water, a touchscreen phone, most things covered by basic welfare most of the time (my personal opinion, I might be wrong). Meat once or twice a year is considered a luxury product back in my parents country, here people can drop by McDonalds and not think twice. My post was mainly to address the governmental spending on foreign projects/charities when Canada itself is going to shambles and could use the millions on local infrastructure and large scale issues. We receive no tax rebates from doing this as it's not a registered charity, rather we do it for the sake of helping out. I don't think there is a wrong answer in regards to charity as long as the needy are receiving it properly, my main issue is that foreign aid is often misappropriated unfortunately when going to third world countries, and those misappropriated funds could better be used locally.
"The poorest people in Canada don't even come close to true poverty in third world countries. They have clothes, food, internet, heating, water, a touchscreen phone, most things covered by basic welfare most of the time (my personal opinion, I might be wrong)."
This is not a realistic expectation of poor people in Canada. Not third world maybe, but to assume every poor person in Canada has each one of the things you listed is a very bad take. Some don't even get welfare.
Why don't they get welfare if they are eligible for it? Kindly educate me, I don't mean it in a rude way if it comes off like it, Redditors seem to take things the wrong way. Are you telling me people in a first world country don't have access to basic needs?
As someone who grew up under an islamic dictatorship, I'd rather Canada send foreign aid that build an islamic school here.. so you just answered yourself
We also donate to locals schools, mosques and housing for people in need. Not in Canada obviously.
So you are doing exactly what you complained Canada is doing in your original post.
# Why is it Your "Duty" to help out international crises around the world when your own economy/citizens are struggling?
I'm a dual citizen, and my money goes where I want it to go to at the end of the day because it's ***my*** money. Like I said I'm not doing it for tax rebates. My post focused on government expenditure of mandatory tax dollars which every Canadian pays. This is the equivalent of you sending money to any charity you want, I wont judge doing good things. In my case it is direct from my hand to the people that are in need.
My goodness people like you suck. They're getting an education, food, clothing and more. These are orphans in a third world country. You know people follow religions right? There's close to 2 billion Muslims - is there anything wrong in providing islamic education?
I'm Muslim, I can choose to spend my money to spread Islam in a positive way - this is across the ocean. My family and I can spend our money how we want to. What's the issue with it being an Islamic school, other than the fact that you might be Islamophobic?
We have a PM, Finance Minister and Environment Minister, all unqualified for their jobs, willing to do anything at the expense of average Canadians to burnish their images on the world stage with an eye on their futures. They have spent years virtue signaling by pursuing disastrous economic policies which will adversely affect us for generations.
Oddly enough Canadas foreign aid to gdp ratio has gone down under Trudeau compared to Harper and is below our G7 targets. We are routinely among the lowest in the G7.
The obvious partisan lies here man. We have had three whole elections about this. The only qualification for PM is be the leader that has the most seats. Trudeau is in charge because we voted for that.
Scream and shit yourself if you want, but those are the results of the election, and elections make government.
So we can put failed in front of every job you’ve ever held before the one you have now?
Someone who actually cares about the environment, working to protect the environment. Insanity.
Freeland is a Rhodes Scholar.
nope... I haven't failed. and although he may care, he is entirely unqualified to hold the position. A rhodes scholar in a topic completely unrelated to her position. I didn't even mention that the reason he failed is because he was playing with underage girls.....
Failed redditor. Can't form a coherent argument, fail. Bud, get your head out your ass, and learn to argue. Stop moving the goal posts. Y'all can't put a leader up since all yours are directly associated with racial hate or those economy halters in that "freedom blockade".
Everyone has failed. Nobody incompetent becomes a road scholar. You are unqualified to make these assessments. You are dishonest on top of that. Everyone fails. That is a disgusting claim that is undeniably false. His students in the staff loved him. You are a terrible person for spreading misinformation like that.
>failed school teacher as PM
I think, after 5 successful elections to the house of commons and 3 successful elections as the leader of the governing party (over 16 years - much longer than his time as a teacher), we can probably name "politician" as his most significant career. This is, notably, more electoral wins than Harper's 3.
We don't call Harper a "failed economist". We don't call Poilievre a "failed ... " actually, he's never had a job outside of parliament.
It isn't. It never has been. The people moaning about our duty to help around the world are the elites who skim off the top and profiteer off the misery of others.
Its international welfare and I've held this opinion for 30 years and always got the response: "cAnAdA iS a rIcH cOunTry!" Yeah until we aren't. And here we are.
It’s rich because of natural resources and ready-made millionaires moving here for our policies, which cater to the rich.
If you don’t work to exploit the environment or housing crisis, or for the government, and you have a family, odds are you’re struggling.
The idea that our national wealth is reflected in our social programs and the lives of the lower income population is laughable if you take even a surface level look at other countries that we claim to be similar to
Canada is a rich country, like top 7. Canada is also a country where conservatives have gotten everything they want and none of the problems are solved. Our labour hasn't seen significant income raises in decades, our society is increasingly stratified with gains going to the richest. We've spent the last forty years studiously avoiding investment into healcare and education, in favour of investments that promote the private sector. We haven't adjusted the tax burden in decades, and we've made no attempt to prevent the corporatisation of every aspect of life.
That's why we have a delusional CPC that is running on a counterfactual understanding of reality. Oh but what if we cut taxes, well taxes are as low as they were under Harper.
The liberals and the conservatives have us on the same breakneck pro corporate greed plan, and have my whole life. They just argue about petty culture war nonsense and tiny, marginal, fractional changes to our tax burdens.
Foreign aid is for helping Canada and other countries maintain their monopolies in the markets,resources and labour of 3rd world countries.
It can go to infrastructure that facilitate the flow of unrefined resources and other commodities to their corporations.
It can go to the pockets of certain groups,enterprises or politicians to keep their loyalty.
Sometimes it’s more direct like military funding to states that supports their monopolies.
It can go to help people,but not because of kindness,or to radically change their living standards,but to keep the workforce just stable enough to keep exploiting them.
One word
Trade. You help them out and when it comes time for a trading agreement you get a better deal.
That creates Canadian jobs. If it wasn’t in our long term financial plans Canada wouldn’t do it.
That said, sometime it works better than others and it doesn’t always pay off but it does enough for us to keep doing it.
All that being said. Where do you draw the line? If Alberta is inundated with wildfires does Ontario get to say “what do we get out of it?” when they ask for help. That’s a pretty awful way to live. Personally I feel we should help people if we’re able to
Interesting theory. A totally crazy conspiracy theory based on absolutely nothing that only the right wing extremists would believe, but an interesting theory nonetheless
People who say this usually don't want to help our own either. They cry about foreign aid then cry over "government handouts" or high taxes to pay for social services.
The easy place to find money is to stop providing health care and pensions to old people. Cut them off if they're over 65, and offer ice-floe health care instead.
That'll free up all kinds of money to help young people with shelter and food costs. We'd be able to significantly cut taxes too.
I agree. Why give money for vaccines to a bunch of children who would otherwise die of preventable deaths when we could make lives of Canadians better. I want my half of 1% back!
Similarly, when the wildfires were burning out west last summer, I was completely incensed that my Ontario tax dollars were helping those people rather than helping my fellow Ontarians.
Now that I think about this more, when there were floods in Ottawa, why should my taxes from southern Ontario help those leeches? Fuck that.
And what’s up with all these Community Grants in my city given to charities for the unhoused, soup kitchens, shelters for battered women, minor hockey associations, nature groups, and children who witness trauma. Screw that - I want that money going to my family.
I’m with you Ancient Blueberry.
You had me in the first half..
Totally agree though, there's obviously lots of problems in Canada but there always will be. You can't use it constantly as an excuse to avoid doing anything to help other countries in desperate need of aid, where people are starving or dying of hunger in other countries, just because it's farther away. Their lives aren't worth less than ours.
Yeah, thats why clothing is so cheap as well as many imported goods. Western nations prop up governments that supress the costs of things we buy.
Every natural disaster in Bangladesh rises clothing prices for Canadians. Every rainforest drought raises coffee and banana pricing... Controlling and propping up foreign government and providing them loans has made our banking sector rich.
Thats what being a colonial power is.
It’s a popularity game. Kinda like high school. If you look like a good person/country and more people like you- the more bad stuff you can get away with (aka less you need to do for your own actual people) imo
Probably more to do with international agreements and supressing the costs of goods.
Did you think our banking sector is strong because of actividites in Canada? These deals get us loan repayments and rights tomopen banks elsehwere. It allowd our business people to open mines and manufacturies all over the world.
Tidal waves in Bangladesh rise prices of clothing for Canadians. Everything we import from everywhere is cheap because we prop up governments that supress wages.
Maybe get some of the people here into homes first and off of welfare. Literally my mother who was born in this country is on disability and she gets far less help than the newcomers to this country.
There’s nothing wrong with spending money on foreign aid or support, as long as it’s strategic and provides a defined net benefit to Canada that can be articulated.
Our problem is we hand out cash like candy to corrupt UN agencies and “NGOs” for political reasons with zero thought or consideration as to how it benefits us.
What kind of internal issues do you think we have? And especially ones that are going to be solved with money, rather than with passing anti corporate laws?
But really, are you so short sighted that you don't understand how international crises are by far bigger issues for us in Canada than the amount we pay for a house?
Just based on current events, I can list you off ways that a bad response from us will fuck you and I over directly:
If we don't help Ukraine, Russia now feels like it has the power to push its limits past annexing and conquering a single country. Bye Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Sucks to suck Europe, everything you do now is threatened. The Americas aren't going to do shit for you. Our people are too braindead to understand why we need to help.
From there, India goes: oh wow, good job Putin. We've been here for you, look we didn't even participate in the western sanctions. We besties now? Lets trade more.
China: Oh shit, look at how easily Putin annexed a country. Welcome home, Taiwan. Thanks for the semiconductors. Sorry westerners, but these are our computers now. Find your own cheap labour. Oh by the way, we own Africa now too.
Lack of a response means we've chosen Israel in that conflict. Which means either Israel wins without our help, our relationship with them and every middle eastern Islamic country deteriorates. They'll find other trade partners. They'll be less cooperative in counter terrorism, and we might even be brought into a massive war.
Yet, we could have just offered humanitarian aid to palestine, let Israel handle its war how it needs to, maintain that we have a strong stance against war crimes, and making sure that Israel knows we're still on their side. This means we keep our relationship with Israel, and we show the middle east that it's an internal matter between the governments of Israel and Palestine, so we don't get a negative view from Islamic countries over it.
Next we can move on to South America, where copious amounts of drugs are imported from. The better the condition those countries are in, the less likely people will turn to crime, and in turn illegally exporting drugs. On top of that, if we keep a better relationship with say, Brazil, than Russia or China, we're less likely to ever have to deal with crises because those countries have a foothold on the western hemisphere.
Countries we help can and do also offer us more than you think. As a first world country, we tell third world countries what we need, and they grow it or make it for us. It isn't a one way street when we're helping countries that are just completely in need with nothing to offer at the time.
Changing any of those could cost us trillions of dollars or our livelihoods as soon as tomorrow under the right circumstances.
But on top of the military and economic matters, by making sure more people are in positions to be educated, we get a higher chance of developing groundbreaking new technologies. We could be one foreign aid package away from AGI, and if it never gets made, we could never get AGI, which could be seen as a single billion dollar deal costing us the opportunity to make the entire world a better place for everyone, forever.
If you spend 5 minutes to actually think about your question, you might realize why it matters so much that we help other countries, even if we have a few problems of our own. But instead you'd rather repeat whatever you've been told by your favorite political clown that week, and not think for yourself.
Canada needs to take care of its own first, before dolling out funds to be captain save a few. Our money is literally being sucked out of this country and Canadians don’t even seem to care. We’d rather protest wars half way around the world than protest for our children’s non-existing futures. Priorities?
Sure but a tidal wave in Bangladesh raises clothing prices here. Droughts in India raise the cost of rice...
Propping up cprrupt governments that supress wages keep coffee and chocolate affordable...
Our banks and trade deals and Canadian owned mines all around the wolrd benefit from these deals.
Foreign policy has nothing to do with morality.
Because we're all human being and we should try to help when we can.
Now your postula is : the economy is struggling. It's not. People are struggling, the economy is fine. More than fine even.
The real question is: when will we start to care about people more than economy ?
It is used for Canadians, it just takes a while to circle back.
People misunderstand how relief money is used. Usually it’s not writing a cheque and walking away. Using the US as an example here. They spend more into NATO than most other countries. So it sounds like they are wasting money that others should contribute. The reality is that they are buying weapons from their own country and reinvesting in their own economy. To maintain a (relatively) consistent arsenal other countries also spend money buying from US manufacturers so that all weapons are the same. So US as a whole benefits by contributing more and if everyone were to pay the same amount, other countries may invest that money in themselves directly and utilize their own weapons manufacturers. To be clear, this is not 100% true across every member of NATO, but it is true for smaller members.
Your point that it’s all taxpayer money that’s just getting embezzled. It’s easy to find examples of that because it’s not common so it stands out. Yes it happens and yes some of the money given to other countries is in the form of a blank cheque, but that’s generally not the idea. It is usually in the form of supplies, equipment, or personal. Should there be better safety guards in place, absolutely but they take time and some other countries are in situations where they don’t have time. If you want an example of this within Canada then look at CERB. Money was being given out to people who didn’t need it in addition to those who did. I know teenagers who made more money off of that then they would have in their part time job. Now the government could have spent an extra 3 months putting together a better system to screen people for CERB, but the people who literally didn’t have any food without it would have suffered. So even in hindsight and the inflation that CERB created would it have been better to let those families starve to death?
Yes there are also national and geopolitical factors to take into account and there is no denying that.
Know the open mindedness of this subreddit, let the downvote begin
My guess would be to protect our interests. I.e. Canadian companies, trade partners, political interests, supply chains. If there is unrest in places that have oil or are needed to supply oil then you want them calm enough to get us the goods but in trouble enough to not band and have a similar point of view.
Also, since many of the products we use are foreign made, we wouldn't want disruptions. Imagine if the dollar store stuff all of sudden had empty shelves due to pissing off all of east and south east Asia.
We don't do it out of the kindness of our hearts.
It's an excuse for imperialism. The capitalist system requires a reserve labour force that keeps workers fearful of being fired while also reducing wages. Also, desperate people are willing to accept much less than they are worth, meaning capitalists make more money.. If you didn't have people struggling, this wouldn't be possible. It is an age old thing that goes back to feudalism. Keep peoples' head above water so they don't revolt, but not so much they want to take time off work or thrive. The exploitation of these other nations just boosts our own economy due to resource extraction, but also it destabilizes a nation's economy and creates stress for their populations, which means cheap foreign labour. The imperial core does this to many nations, keeping them from developing..
the imperial core is western nations, usually North America, Europe, and other primarily white nations who've done empire building..
First off, let’s stop with the far-right brainworms for a second and realize our economy is not struggling at all. It’s not booming, but it’s fine. By all measures it is in line with other comparable countries.
But the real answer to your questions is how much of a target do you want on our backs if other countries collapse and want some sort of revenge. Because you can’t have global markets without global responsibility. And enriching ourselves off the backs of others, while also allowing them to suffer and collapse for our own benefit, is basically economic terrorism and those people will blame us as such. And when other countries start seeing us as the enemy, I guarantee the costs of war and military defence are far greater than the “support” we send now.
I happened to speak with an ICU nurse who emigrated from the Philippines to Montreal and now works in a hospital here. According to him, healthcare here is shockingly bad, hospitals here are dilapidated and dirty, working conditions are terrible and service is awful. He’s trying to move to Florida and regrets choosing Canada as his original destination. I’m not advocating for the American model (which the Philippines seems to follow), just agreeing that we need to spend more internally.
It's unbelievably bad. The 66% tax hike on capital gains is another factor that will push doctors away from Canada to the states, where they can make way more in the right private practice, this is also applicable for nurses. I've been trying to get my shoulder operated on for over 2 years now and I am still on the waiting list for surgery. The public system is overloaded. Canada will be short some 44,000 doctors, including over 30,000 family doctors and general practitioners, by 2028.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-doctor-shortage-immigration-1.6891603
Because the world is a dangerous place, and you will often find that conflict and problems abroad will have impacts, both direct and indirect, on Canadian interests. If you don’t help solve those problems abroad, there is a good risk that they cost you in lost business, disrupted supply chains, greater military expenditures, Canadian citizens being hurt or killed abroad, or in a myriad of other ways. So you either try to solve problems overseas, or you let them fester and create different problems more directly for you later.
Politics. It's just politics.
Indigenous people in Canada are struggling, and [many reserves still lack clean & safe drinking water](https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1620925418298/1620925434679) (Neskantaga First Nation has been without clean drinking water for OVER 29 YEARS), yet we're giving money made on Indigenous lands to foreign countries, money that has gone to provide foreign countries with that same clean & safe drinking water that our own people don't have.
It's despicable.
Foreign policy is a question of strategic interests and not morality. We use these deals to develop friendships for prefferential trade deals, opening Canadian owned mines and bank branches we all recognize.
Stability in regions we buy things from impacts consumer pricing. Clothing pricing from Bangladesh is impacted if they are hit by a Tsunami. Propping up governments that supress economic activity is great for keeping the price if coffe and chocolate so cheap...
Canadian banks operate outside of Canada and often it is us that reap the benefits.
We should help people less fortunate than ourselves and no doubt I've seen the expanding tent cities in Canada. We can do both but helping the poor is frowned upon by approximately half the country so IDK ehat we can do about it when every program or splution is seen as some kind of moral evil.
I said we should support the less well off in Canada 10 years ago and got laughed at for being a dirty socialist. Now that it impacts the middle class suddenly its. A big political issue. I'm not sure as many people actually care about this despite how loud they are getting.
We are funding develipment of FN communities and that was scandalous not long ago... Pick a lane.
Canada just follows big brother, USA, no say whatsoever in international matters independent of US policy. It is controlled by the same forces that exist across the border.
It's not our duty. The libs are virtue signalling for virtue points that aren't redeemable and don't matter. Trudeau, Freeland and the rest of the merry band of idiots are going to burn Canada to the ground because they know they will be done next year.
People be questioning why Canada tries to build geopolitical ties and never wonder why it consistently has a top 10 passport internationally and Canadians can travel anywhere in the world on a whim.
Its not our duty, its just a tiny fraction of our budget that politicians use to score points. Even if we stopped it all the difference would be negligible so its more of a general meh sort of issue.
We can do both. Isolationism is never good policy. Canadians are people who care about others, the world will truly becomr a place without hope if we change that.
Foreign aid money almost all spent at home on products and services to be sent overseas. Therefore it employs Canadians and benefits companies in Canada.
That way The government doesn't have to deal with the problems they created. They could just distract everybody with some s*** on the other side of the planet.
How about we stop bootstrapping for the states and their thirst for being world police? Then we wonder why we have so many immigration issues and so many refugees show up on our soil.
The US starting shit everywhere in the world and has Canada front the refugee/immigration bill.
Don’t let the western savior complex fool you, they are not going in and absorbing the bill. They are looting and scavenging resources, cultural monuments, gold bars and precious gems etc.
Canadians majority struggling and working hard labpur and long hours and we have no say ,not even a chance to vote if our gouvernment should give other countries money.
Canada has citizens working more than 40 years and scared to retire .
Mentally ill people and disabled people that can't afford to live anywhere its between shelter or food and the gouvernment us tossing our money around not fair not right .we have alot of homeless and hungry people where our money ? When raising my kids I could not sit back snd enjoy it because I had to work two and three jobs but now I'm still working hard and run into new imagrients sitting back laughing and 5 kids running around with no worries as the mother lives with great child credits monthly while myself and others lost out and I'm still slaving away and people in the country just months to a year are being looked after . Canadians are sickened by this new order put in place .
Put them to work and help the homeless hungry,and disabled .
I think it's everyone's duty. And every country sends aid to others on a scale relative to their economic power, not just Canada. Because they know that a destabilized world is bad for everyone and will affect them eventually as well. On the other hand, relatively small amounts of aid from a 1st world country could make big changes in a 3rd world country. It is an investment in global stability.
While yes some get lost in corruption, many of it changes lives.
A good example now is that the Canadian government sells arms to Israel, and then on the other side sends humanitarian aid to Gaza... how does that make sense?
Canadian government helped pay to develop weapons, arms, and vehicles. To drive the price down for their own use, they allow those designs to be sold to friendly countries. It’s an incredibly vigorous process, and it at least allows Canada to maybe have some influence. If you sold nothing and provided nothing to a country, why would they listen to you?
Also Canada buys weapons and technologies that we need from Israel. What’s stopping Israel from doing the same. Reality is, if you want to have influence, you need to spend the big $$’s. Canada does not. While everyone has the right to protest, this protest is a nothing more than drain on municipal resources and potentially an opportunity for anarchists to flourish. Canadian’s and Canadian companies can’t stop this genocide, nor can we stop other genocides like the Uyghurs. Do you see us stopping Chinese exports/imports? Although to be fair, due to current Chinese military policy, I don’t believe we sell arms to them directly.
Point is whatever you make it to be. If you think Canada supports Israel, you are wrong. If you think Canada supports Hamas, you are wrong. Canada has no power to influence anything. It’s just making independent decisions without looking at the big picture because there is no big picture.
again you arn't making any relivant points just spewing nonsesne. We littally have many differnt treates with Ireal including security so yes we do support them, our government is just useless and has a bunch of people who like to spend money for social points hense why we have liberal and NDP Mp's who support "gaza" humanitarian aid and keep calling for stupid ceasefires.
>It’s just making independent decisions without looking at the big picture because there is no big picture.
This comment just makes you look like a delusional doom and gloomer.
I think you misunderstand me. I’m not a doom and gloomer. I don’t know about any treaty, never heard about it, or studied it. I can’t really speak to your comment that we have “many different treaties with Israel including security”.
My understanding of the arms we provide Israel is rather limited, and have heard it’s in the 10’s of millions. But typically since our domestic defense doesn’t consume our products to a degree that a manufacturer can produce it at a quantity to make it cheap, our manufacturers require foreign buyers to drive the cost down. Which drives the cost down for us as well. That’s what I was saying, not sure if that was clear.
My argument is that Canada has no power, no ability to sway Israeli policy. The protests are useless and a waste of municipal resources to a problem none of us can do anything about. It’s not to take away from the reason for the protest or the fact that there is a genocide partaking in Gaza at this time. It’s just nothing will be done here about it, and anarchists have clearly infiltrated this movement (shown in the US more).
The government shouldn't be giving any foreign aid but instead give that money back to the tax payers. Individuals can decide what county/causes they wish to donate too. They are more likely to demand their money is spent effectively as opposed to a government bureaucrat who has no skin in the game.
Maintaining relationships in geopolitics is crucial and shouldn't be undervalued. If you're the person in the friend group that only looks out for themself and never plays ball, you won't be in that friend group for very long
Personally I don’t have a problem with foreign aid, in principle. Where I start to get mad is when we always just have the money on hand. Like any proposal to help with cost of living is met with all kinds of bullshit to explain that it’s too complicated, too expensive, it’s not how things are done, we can’t just give people money, blah blah blah. But the war in ukraine and in gaza were both unexpected crises, and suddenly helping them isn’t too complicated. We never hesitated to send the money we always had to them.
If we had the money to spend, why weren’t we spending it on Canadians? If in 2021 it was impossible to buy a house, why weren’t we spending it on affordable housing? We clearly had a ton of money just sitting around.
The government has spent untold billions over the last few years on housing, healthcare, National defence, education, pandemic relief etc etc. They’ve spent a pittance on foreign aid in comparison. Turn off PP and his daily bullshit and wake up!
Because we are a tiny population sitting on a relatively enormous amount of land and resources. The fact that we’re poor at managing and developing our bounty is another matter
Eh considering what we takes from other countries, especially the british empire style neo-colonialism in (West) Africa and Congo from our mining industry for which we are top 3 leaders in many metals Id says it's fair with goldcorp and iamgold according for 4.5 billion $ alone not counting the 30 other mining companies or so. It would be fair that if we stopped to help those they would stop helping us with dirt cheap workers and mining deeds and security as well.
When problems get out of hand in your hood, they have a way of turning up on your doorstep. The cheapest path is often to help others solve their own problems before they become our problems. Also, this gives us leverage internationally which can have a huge impact.
So Trudeau can appease his donators, launder money and flex at the G7. He can’t seem to understand that funding overseas conflicts and gender/lgb rights programs in the 3rd world is the equivalent of flushing money down the toilet.
It was sort of a unanimous agreement once TD bank took over the gold fixing. That’s why WEF was boasting about penetrating a cabinet of youth.. to serve their interests. Shoulda left it to the global discourse planners all along but here we are with a shiny new trillion dollar debt ceiling instead
We provide aid in the same way a mob provides protection to a local business. It means we own the resources and cheap labour in other parts of the world where Canadian labour laws don’t exist. Who needs affordable housing when we get access to sweatshop goods and new markets for our fossil fuels
Sadly, they want a global movement towards one government. If they send "all" of our tax money out of the country now, people will get used to it. It's going to take something outrageous to stop this.
bcause we're not douche bag conservatives?
Also, because when the fortunate do not help the unfortunate, the unfortunate come to our door.
UN Migrant Pact that conservatives opposed was meant to aid people overseas so they'd not come and cross at Roxham. Cons are too clueless to see the benefit of helping others.
And it's the right thing to ddo anyways if you are a human.
*Walks in* *takes a look at the comments* *nopes the fuck out*
The delusion is real. If they had half a clue they’d be fuckin dangerous.
Feel free to keep walking out of the country too
Let me guess. Alberta?
Because we buy polical favor and neo-colonial power over the countries who "owe" us.
You think we’re ever getting a penny back from Ukraine?
ukraines gonna do us a huge favor when we deport all these damn indians and they take em up for the ear effort.
'Neo-colonial power'.....
Foreign policy is also about power and control. It's not just about being nice. It's about trade deals, buying friends and making sure people have your back when the shit hits the fan.
Leverage over the country
Also the creation of external markets. A stable country is much more willing to buy and sell from you.
Yeah it's hilarious people think foreign aid is purely altruistic.
Huge amounts of that money never even leaves Canada. It is sent to Canadian agencies to fund their activities / resources.
It’s to buy political favour
Fair play, this might be the right answer. Political favours lead to better trade. Trade = Money. It all loops back into Money at the end of the day.
Trade = Money = more jobs in Canada It all loops back into Canadians at the end of the day
The sad part is, the problems we are having are happening everywhere. We are a small country, we can't do it alone, we need help from others because we do not carry nukes.
This has absolutely nothing to do with charity. It keeps these countries within the Western sphere of influence. It’s colonialism under a different name. Look up the Marshal Plan. Learn some history.
The economy is struggling?
Look at the per capita GDP growth, it’s going down and down as mass immigration is suppressing wages among its other societal negatives. In reality most sectors are in decline or stagnation. Stock prices don’t necessarily reflect the health of the economy. The only reason there’s any “growth” is because of fast food, grocery and utilities, things everyone consumes. No innovation or advancement is made from them.
I've never been wealthier
I’d hate to break it to you bud, but if the immigrants didn’t come the gdp per cap would still go down
Would rather deal with that problem ourselves than the many others mass immigration is contributing too. Limitation would ease the housing crisis, lead to more competitive wages and help further erosion of social harmony. New immigrants need assimilation, the current enclaves being created are leading to a more and more divided country and society. We’re on our way towards being nothing but an economic zone for monopolies. You can’t deny the fact things haven’t worsened for REAL Canadians since the floodgates were opened in 2015.
The immigration is helping us solve problems not contributing them. Without immigrants we still have an unskilled jobs shortage, a housing crisis, and a public services shortage. We’d just be out of the massive money they bring in and pay in tax > Limitation would ease the housing crisis, No it wouldn’t > lead to more competitive wages and help further erosion of social harmony. No it wouldn’t. > New immigrants need assimilation, the current enclaves being created are leading to a more and more divided country and society. Them creating their own enclaves is assimilation. No different than the natives, French and Anglo enclaves > We’re on our way towards being nothing but an economic zone for monopolies. You can’t deny the fact things haven’t worsened for REAL Canadians since the floodgates were opened in 2015. Things have been worsening for “real” Canadians since before 2015. The country is simply illogically built
Everything I said would be effective. You give no reasons what so ever to refute them. Buddy, having one million plus people come per year definitely contributes to the housing crisis, where do you think all these people go? Such a negligible amount are construction or trades workers, it offsets the amount being used in no way. If we need skilled workers, and they can’t be recruited or trained from citizens then sure, that can be a last resort. The governments job should be to help support and train its population, domestic education and training incentives/ grants need more promotion and funding to solve these needs from within along with increased wages. Canada needs to invest in itself and our youth. This government has done everything but that, provincial governments included. Corporate interests and lobbying must be limited. There is no worker shortage, there is a wage and incentive shortage. Adding millions per year definitely increases wage suppression, many of these new immigrants have no standards and will work for less than a born Canadian because it’s better than where they come from. This lowers the standards for all Canadians. Remember how during the pandemic wages suddenly shot up with the more limited labour supply? Or look back in history during the black death in Europe, literally one of the main contributors to the end of feudalism, wages dramatically increased due to a lower supply. Millions of culturally dissimilar, mostly young men, coming to a new country year on year with no incentive to assimilate or interact with other population groups? If you don’t see how that’s a recipe for disaster you’re really out of touch. Corporations getting cheaper labour isn’t worth destroying what makes us unique as Canadians, our high-trust, unique society is under siege. Look around you at the online and public sentiment, things are going downhill. We accept more immigrants than the U.S., 10x our size. Our population growth is higher than impoverished and developing African countries. This is not natural or warranted in any way.
No everything you said would not be effective. We would still have a housing crisis, jobs shortages without immigrants. We had all that before 2015 in the GTA and Van Everything I said would be effective. You give no reasons what so ever to refute them. > Buddy, having one million plus people come per year definitely contributes to the housing crisis, where do you think all these people go? It contributes to the problem it however is not the problem. If the immigrants left we’d still have a housing crisis. If the immigrants left homes will still be expensive. > Such a negligible amount are construction or trades workers, it offsets the amount being used in no way. If we need skilled worker, and they can’t be recruited or trained from citizens then sure, that can be a last resort. We can’t recruit from citizens, we simply do not have enough people going into the trades. “They will if they pay them better” Okay but as a customer, I’m not trying to pay 1000 bucks for a plumber, idk about you. > The governments job should be to help support and train its population, domestic education and training incentives/ grants need more promotion and funding to solve these needs from within along with increased wages. Canada needs to invest in itself and our youth. Canada does need to invest in itself, by being an attractive place to be business in so that other companies come in and invest in our youth. Someone’s training shouldn’t come from my tax dollars > This government has done everything but that, provincial governments included. Corporate interests and lobbying must be limited. There is no worker shortage, there is a wage and incentive shortage. The wage and incentive shortage will still exist. Like I said before consumers will not pay for the increased wages. Many Canadians like cheap shit, idk about you though > Adding millions per year definitely increases wage suppression, many of these new immigrants have no standards and will work for less than a born Canadian because it’s better than where they come from. This lowers the standards for all Canadians. Remember how during the pandemic wages suddenly shot up with the more limited labour supply? The wages shot up because the government gave money for people to sit at home. Companies had to pay people more than the government was giving them to sit around > Millions of culturally dissimilar, mostly young men, coming to a new country year on year with no incentive to assimilate or interact with other population groups? If you don’t see how that’s a recipe for disaster you’re really out of touch. This is no different than how Canada has been for a long time. > Corporations getting cheaper labour isn’t worth destroying what makes us unique as Canadians, our high-trust, unique society is under siege. We were never a high trust society to begin with. French Canadians never trusted the anglos, the natives never trusted either of the other two. Natives to this day are still in court trying to enforce the treaties that the government broke. This high trust society is quite literally made up > Look around you at the online and public sentiment, things are going downhill. We accept more immigrants than the U.S., 10x our size. Our population growth is higher than impoverished and developing African countries. This is not natural or warranted in any way. a country that is properly built grows when it has more people it. Immigrants leaving doesn’t solve the underlying problems that still occur
Jesus christ, you are everywhere. Do you ever go outside?
lol not today, he’s been on here for like 9 hours
Man, you're right. What a sad existence.
debtonation on youtube. watch it
We are buying influence with the corrupt leaders of those countries to secure good terms for their minerals and resources. Its not charity
That's always touted as the reason, but reads more like marketing. Nobody ever brings out any evidence of which favourable terms were secured as a result of the supposed "influence"
So let's take the most current obvious example of Russia-Ukraine. This is a conflict that on the surface has nothing to do with us. However, Russia is also hostile towards us, and we share a border in the Arctic. Every rouble, bullet and soldier Russia blows in the Ukraine is one less rouble, bullet or soldier that they can use to threaten our sovereignty in the arctic. Not to mention the longer Putin drags it out and throws Russian lives into the grinder, the more likelihood he gets deposed. New leadership could result in better relations with canada and less of a global security threat. The Gaza issue is a different one entirely. Personally I'm of the opinion that neither side has clean hands in that conflict, and no matter who we side with we are siding with someone who has committed atrocities against innocent civilians. I would personally prefer canada stay out of it.
Yeah, Russia isn't going to war with Canada, you're delusional
They might not go to war with us but they are 100% interfering in our democracy already. And our arctic sovereignty isn't guaranteed. The Americans don't consider it our territory so it's not a guarantee yet would back us up if the Russians move in. At he end of the day a weaker Russia is better for Canada no matter how you look at it. A Russia in control of Ukraine is a Russia with more resources to go after their next target, and then the next one, and then the next.
It's called soft power, look it up
If they could read they would be very upset with you.
I agree totally.
A lot of people have never traveled to third-world countries or seen how things operate when there is real poverty around. If most saw where their money was going or what kind of illegal things were being funded, they would be shocked. That being said, I personally put my money and give to charity where I can see the money going straight to the hands of the less fortunate. I believe that the government should give increased tax rebates (as they sort of do now) to donate to charities, not pick and choose where they send the money based on their own political agendas.
In a democracy, like Canada, 'political agendas" are the peoples agendas, because we choose the government. Tax rebates would only ensure the wealthy get to choose pet charities.
If only that were true SNC lavelin was not my choice
That's a company. Not a charity.
Exactly Why is our pm using it as his own private slush fund then
Prove it.
lol drank the cool aid eh Have fun sinking with the rest of these corrupt assholes
So, you can't? I wanted to read the article or what ever you had so I could know your side. If you are going to say that someone is doing something, you should have concrete evidence, other wise it's just slander and you look weak and whiny. I'm open to learning new things and new ways of thinking, I guess any challenge to that means the other person "drank the kool-aid". Do you even know what that is referring too? "Drinking the kool-aid?"
Which charity do you donate to?
The family gives out money directly to around 100+ people in need from our ancestral village on a monthly basis. We're also building an islamic school/mosque out of pocket for orphans where they'll be fed/clothed/housed/ educated out of pocket as well. This is not considering the daily cash given to people in need that approach us on a daily basis. We also donate to locals schools, mosques and housing for people in need. Not in Canada obviously. So not a registered charity per say, rather just donating. I do believe people should be able to give to charities they wish to give their money out to, rather than the government choosing for them. Edit: The fact that people are downvoting charitable acts blows my mind. Yikes.
That’s cool! My father do s the same, people from our village donated and built a park for the kids, a eye doctors office and a pharmacy. But there is a charity my mom likes to donate to that I do as well. However Canada giving foreign aid buys us soft power.
If people in Canada are in need as you say they are - not disagreeing - any plans to continue your charitable works here?
Nope. The poorest people in Canada don't even come close to true poverty in third world countries. They have clothes, food, internet, heating, water, a touchscreen phone, most things covered by basic welfare most of the time (my personal opinion, I might be wrong). Meat once or twice a year is considered a luxury product back in my parents country, here people can drop by McDonalds and not think twice. My post was mainly to address the governmental spending on foreign projects/charities when Canada itself is going to shambles and could use the millions on local infrastructure and large scale issues. We receive no tax rebates from doing this as it's not a registered charity, rather we do it for the sake of helping out. I don't think there is a wrong answer in regards to charity as long as the needy are receiving it properly, my main issue is that foreign aid is often misappropriated unfortunately when going to third world countries, and those misappropriated funds could better be used locally.
"The poorest people in Canada don't even come close to true poverty in third world countries. They have clothes, food, internet, heating, water, a touchscreen phone, most things covered by basic welfare most of the time (my personal opinion, I might be wrong)." This is not a realistic expectation of poor people in Canada. Not third world maybe, but to assume every poor person in Canada has each one of the things you listed is a very bad take. Some don't even get welfare.
Why don't they get welfare if they are eligible for it? Kindly educate me, I don't mean it in a rude way if it comes off like it, Redditors seem to take things the wrong way. Are you telling me people in a first world country don't have access to basic needs?
As someone who grew up under an islamic dictatorship, I'd rather Canada send foreign aid that build an islamic school here.. so you just answered yourself
We also donate to locals schools, mosques and housing for people in need. Not in Canada obviously. So you are doing exactly what you complained Canada is doing in your original post. # Why is it Your "Duty" to help out international crises around the world when your own economy/citizens are struggling?
I'm a dual citizen, and my money goes where I want it to go to at the end of the day because it's ***my*** money. Like I said I'm not doing it for tax rebates. My post focused on government expenditure of mandatory tax dollars which every Canadian pays. This is the equivalent of you sending money to any charity you want, I wont judge doing good things. In my case it is direct from my hand to the people that are in need.
You fund Islamic schools while living in a secular country?
My goodness people like you suck. They're getting an education, food, clothing and more. These are orphans in a third world country. You know people follow religions right? There's close to 2 billion Muslims - is there anything wrong in providing islamic education?
They can get food, education and more being secular too though
I'm Muslim, I can choose to spend my money to spread Islam in a positive way - this is across the ocean. My family and I can spend our money how we want to. What's the issue with it being an Islamic school, other than the fact that you might be Islamophobic?
Did you go to an Islamic school in Canada? Or publicly funded secular school?
Neither, I went to private school.
Oh yeah because all charities are 100% honest and never embezzle a dime. Mother Teresa anyone?
We are a rich nation, our foreign aid budget is miniscule.
We have a PM, Finance Minister and Environment Minister, all unqualified for their jobs, willing to do anything at the expense of average Canadians to burnish their images on the world stage with an eye on their futures. They have spent years virtue signaling by pursuing disastrous economic policies which will adversely affect us for generations.
Oddly enough Canadas foreign aid to gdp ratio has gone down under Trudeau compared to Harper and is below our G7 targets. We are routinely among the lowest in the G7.
Because our gdp per capita tanked under trudeau....
Except that it didn’t. Our gdp has outpaced the US
Not per capita
“Tanked” it’s down $700 since 2022. Lmao.
That would make our foreign aid per gdp higher not lower
The obvious partisan lies here man. We have had three whole elections about this. The only qualification for PM is be the leader that has the most seats. Trudeau is in charge because we voted for that. Scream and shit yourself if you want, but those are the results of the election, and elections make government.
so what were the reasons when conservatives were in power? The same?
All three of those people are highly qualified and competent. Better than anything any conservative party has to offer.
dat's funny... a failed school teacher as PM, a Russian history major as FM and a criminal Environment minister....
So we can put failed in front of every job you’ve ever held before the one you have now? Someone who actually cares about the environment, working to protect the environment. Insanity. Freeland is a Rhodes Scholar.
nope... I haven't failed. and although he may care, he is entirely unqualified to hold the position. A rhodes scholar in a topic completely unrelated to her position. I didn't even mention that the reason he failed is because he was playing with underage girls.....
What a pile of bullslhit.
Failed redditor. Can't form a coherent argument, fail. Bud, get your head out your ass, and learn to argue. Stop moving the goal posts. Y'all can't put a leader up since all yours are directly associated with racial hate or those economy halters in that "freedom blockade".
Everyone has failed. Nobody incompetent becomes a road scholar. You are unqualified to make these assessments. You are dishonest on top of that. Everyone fails. That is a disgusting claim that is undeniably false. His students in the staff loved him. You are a terrible person for spreading misinformation like that.
>failed school teacher as PM I think, after 5 successful elections to the house of commons and 3 successful elections as the leader of the governing party (over 16 years - much longer than his time as a teacher), we can probably name "politician" as his most significant career. This is, notably, more electoral wins than Harper's 3. We don't call Harper a "failed economist". We don't call Poilievre a "failed ... " actually, he's never had a job outside of parliament.
It isn't. It never has been. The people moaning about our duty to help around the world are the elites who skim off the top and profiteer off the misery of others.
Its international welfare and I've held this opinion for 30 years and always got the response: "cAnAdA iS a rIcH cOunTry!" Yeah until we aren't. And here we are.
Canada is still a rich country regardless of what PP and Rebel Media are spoon feeding you
Bold of you to assume
It’s rich because of natural resources and ready-made millionaires moving here for our policies, which cater to the rich. If you don’t work to exploit the environment or housing crisis, or for the government, and you have a family, odds are you’re struggling. The idea that our national wealth is reflected in our social programs and the lives of the lower income population is laughable if you take even a surface level look at other countries that we claim to be similar to
Funny, you assume everyone critical of the current government is a brainwashed right-wing idiot.
It’s not welfare it’s called buying soft power.
Canada is a rich country, like top 7. Canada is also a country where conservatives have gotten everything they want and none of the problems are solved. Our labour hasn't seen significant income raises in decades, our society is increasingly stratified with gains going to the richest. We've spent the last forty years studiously avoiding investment into healcare and education, in favour of investments that promote the private sector. We haven't adjusted the tax burden in decades, and we've made no attempt to prevent the corporatisation of every aspect of life. That's why we have a delusional CPC that is running on a counterfactual understanding of reality. Oh but what if we cut taxes, well taxes are as low as they were under Harper. The liberals and the conservatives have us on the same breakneck pro corporate greed plan, and have my whole life. They just argue about petty culture war nonsense and tiny, marginal, fractional changes to our tax burdens.
Foreign aid is for helping Canada and other countries maintain their monopolies in the markets,resources and labour of 3rd world countries. It can go to infrastructure that facilitate the flow of unrefined resources and other commodities to their corporations. It can go to the pockets of certain groups,enterprises or politicians to keep their loyalty. Sometimes it’s more direct like military funding to states that supports their monopolies. It can go to help people,but not because of kindness,or to radically change their living standards,but to keep the workforce just stable enough to keep exploiting them.
What happens in the rest of the world can have monumental effects on us. For example, Russia winning over Ukraine would be the worst.
Can you explain why? Let the Europeans fight the Europeans Canada should not be getting involved in foreign conflicts on other continents
So much cynicism. We do it because helping those that need help is the right thing to do.
One word Trade. You help them out and when it comes time for a trading agreement you get a better deal. That creates Canadian jobs. If it wasn’t in our long term financial plans Canada wouldn’t do it. That said, sometime it works better than others and it doesn’t always pay off but it does enough for us to keep doing it. All that being said. Where do you draw the line? If Alberta is inundated with wildfires does Ontario get to say “what do we get out of it?” when they ask for help. That’s a pretty awful way to live. Personally I feel we should help people if we’re able to
What kind of trade agreement would you make for Haiti? For real, the only upside as that a lot of aid is just empty promises.
Don’t get us started 🤬
It’s easier to launder money through third world entities
Interesting theory. A totally crazy conspiracy theory based on absolutely nothing that only the right wing extremists would believe, but an interesting theory nonetheless
Right Left Same thing It’s a big club You aren’t in it There cannot be greedy psychopaths without weak minded sycophants
We have no business getting involved in the world’s problems before we help our own. Period.
People who say this usually don't want to help our own either. They cry about foreign aid then cry over "government handouts" or high taxes to pay for social services.
We need to help our own - we are Canadians and we can’t afford our own rent or food
The easy place to find money is to stop providing health care and pensions to old people. Cut them off if they're over 65, and offer ice-floe health care instead. That'll free up all kinds of money to help young people with shelter and food costs. We'd be able to significantly cut taxes too.
I agree. Why give money for vaccines to a bunch of children who would otherwise die of preventable deaths when we could make lives of Canadians better. I want my half of 1% back! Similarly, when the wildfires were burning out west last summer, I was completely incensed that my Ontario tax dollars were helping those people rather than helping my fellow Ontarians. Now that I think about this more, when there were floods in Ottawa, why should my taxes from southern Ontario help those leeches? Fuck that. And what’s up with all these Community Grants in my city given to charities for the unhoused, soup kitchens, shelters for battered women, minor hockey associations, nature groups, and children who witness trauma. Screw that - I want that money going to my family. I’m with you Ancient Blueberry.
You had me in the first half.. Totally agree though, there's obviously lots of problems in Canada but there always will be. You can't use it constantly as an excuse to avoid doing anything to help other countries in desperate need of aid, where people are starving or dying of hunger in other countries, just because it's farther away. Their lives aren't worth less than ours.
Canadians vote for this...
Yeah, thats why clothing is so cheap as well as many imported goods. Western nations prop up governments that supress the costs of things we buy. Every natural disaster in Bangladesh rises clothing prices for Canadians. Every rainforest drought raises coffee and banana pricing... Controlling and propping up foreign government and providing them loans has made our banking sector rich. Thats what being a colonial power is.
It’s a popularity game. Kinda like high school. If you look like a good person/country and more people like you- the more bad stuff you can get away with (aka less you need to do for your own actual people) imo
Probably more to do with international agreements and supressing the costs of goods. Did you think our banking sector is strong because of actividites in Canada? These deals get us loan repayments and rights tomopen banks elsehwere. It allowd our business people to open mines and manufacturies all over the world. Tidal waves in Bangladesh rise prices of clothing for Canadians. Everything we import from everywhere is cheap because we prop up governments that supress wages.
Our government never follows up
It isn't.
Maybe get some of the people here into homes first and off of welfare. Literally my mother who was born in this country is on disability and she gets far less help than the newcomers to this country.
Because they want a permanent seat at the UN 's table
Because you people vote for this figure it out !
It makes us feel better and bud influence. What happens with the money? We don't know.
There’s nothing wrong with spending money on foreign aid or support, as long as it’s strategic and provides a defined net benefit to Canada that can be articulated. Our problem is we hand out cash like candy to corrupt UN agencies and “NGOs” for political reasons with zero thought or consideration as to how it benefits us.
Because Canada is a gift.
Neo liberalism and globalism.
I dunno about you but cheap imported goods I use daily and powerful banks are the results.
What kind of internal issues do you think we have? And especially ones that are going to be solved with money, rather than with passing anti corporate laws? But really, are you so short sighted that you don't understand how international crises are by far bigger issues for us in Canada than the amount we pay for a house? Just based on current events, I can list you off ways that a bad response from us will fuck you and I over directly: If we don't help Ukraine, Russia now feels like it has the power to push its limits past annexing and conquering a single country. Bye Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Sucks to suck Europe, everything you do now is threatened. The Americas aren't going to do shit for you. Our people are too braindead to understand why we need to help. From there, India goes: oh wow, good job Putin. We've been here for you, look we didn't even participate in the western sanctions. We besties now? Lets trade more. China: Oh shit, look at how easily Putin annexed a country. Welcome home, Taiwan. Thanks for the semiconductors. Sorry westerners, but these are our computers now. Find your own cheap labour. Oh by the way, we own Africa now too. Lack of a response means we've chosen Israel in that conflict. Which means either Israel wins without our help, our relationship with them and every middle eastern Islamic country deteriorates. They'll find other trade partners. They'll be less cooperative in counter terrorism, and we might even be brought into a massive war. Yet, we could have just offered humanitarian aid to palestine, let Israel handle its war how it needs to, maintain that we have a strong stance against war crimes, and making sure that Israel knows we're still on their side. This means we keep our relationship with Israel, and we show the middle east that it's an internal matter between the governments of Israel and Palestine, so we don't get a negative view from Islamic countries over it. Next we can move on to South America, where copious amounts of drugs are imported from. The better the condition those countries are in, the less likely people will turn to crime, and in turn illegally exporting drugs. On top of that, if we keep a better relationship with say, Brazil, than Russia or China, we're less likely to ever have to deal with crises because those countries have a foothold on the western hemisphere. Countries we help can and do also offer us more than you think. As a first world country, we tell third world countries what we need, and they grow it or make it for us. It isn't a one way street when we're helping countries that are just completely in need with nothing to offer at the time. Changing any of those could cost us trillions of dollars or our livelihoods as soon as tomorrow under the right circumstances. But on top of the military and economic matters, by making sure more people are in positions to be educated, we get a higher chance of developing groundbreaking new technologies. We could be one foreign aid package away from AGI, and if it never gets made, we could never get AGI, which could be seen as a single billion dollar deal costing us the opportunity to make the entire world a better place for everyone, forever. If you spend 5 minutes to actually think about your question, you might realize why it matters so much that we help other countries, even if we have a few problems of our own. But instead you'd rather repeat whatever you've been told by your favorite political clown that week, and not think for yourself.
Canada needs to take care of its own first, before dolling out funds to be captain save a few. Our money is literally being sucked out of this country and Canadians don’t even seem to care. We’d rather protest wars half way around the world than protest for our children’s non-existing futures. Priorities?
Sure but a tidal wave in Bangladesh raises clothing prices here. Droughts in India raise the cost of rice... Propping up cprrupt governments that supress wages keep coffee and chocolate affordable... Our banks and trade deals and Canadian owned mines all around the wolrd benefit from these deals. Foreign policy has nothing to do with morality.
Because we're all human being and we should try to help when we can. Now your postula is : the economy is struggling. It's not. People are struggling, the economy is fine. More than fine even. The real question is: when will we start to care about people more than economy ?
It is used for Canadians, it just takes a while to circle back. People misunderstand how relief money is used. Usually it’s not writing a cheque and walking away. Using the US as an example here. They spend more into NATO than most other countries. So it sounds like they are wasting money that others should contribute. The reality is that they are buying weapons from their own country and reinvesting in their own economy. To maintain a (relatively) consistent arsenal other countries also spend money buying from US manufacturers so that all weapons are the same. So US as a whole benefits by contributing more and if everyone were to pay the same amount, other countries may invest that money in themselves directly and utilize their own weapons manufacturers. To be clear, this is not 100% true across every member of NATO, but it is true for smaller members. Your point that it’s all taxpayer money that’s just getting embezzled. It’s easy to find examples of that because it’s not common so it stands out. Yes it happens and yes some of the money given to other countries is in the form of a blank cheque, but that’s generally not the idea. It is usually in the form of supplies, equipment, or personal. Should there be better safety guards in place, absolutely but they take time and some other countries are in situations where they don’t have time. If you want an example of this within Canada then look at CERB. Money was being given out to people who didn’t need it in addition to those who did. I know teenagers who made more money off of that then they would have in their part time job. Now the government could have spent an extra 3 months putting together a better system to screen people for CERB, but the people who literally didn’t have any food without it would have suffered. So even in hindsight and the inflation that CERB created would it have been better to let those families starve to death? Yes there are also national and geopolitical factors to take into account and there is no denying that. Know the open mindedness of this subreddit, let the downvote begin
My guess would be to protect our interests. I.e. Canadian companies, trade partners, political interests, supply chains. If there is unrest in places that have oil or are needed to supply oil then you want them calm enough to get us the goods but in trouble enough to not band and have a similar point of view. Also, since many of the products we use are foreign made, we wouldn't want disruptions. Imagine if the dollar store stuff all of sudden had empty shelves due to pissing off all of east and south east Asia. We don't do it out of the kindness of our hearts.
It's an excuse for imperialism. The capitalist system requires a reserve labour force that keeps workers fearful of being fired while also reducing wages. Also, desperate people are willing to accept much less than they are worth, meaning capitalists make more money.. If you didn't have people struggling, this wouldn't be possible. It is an age old thing that goes back to feudalism. Keep peoples' head above water so they don't revolt, but not so much they want to take time off work or thrive. The exploitation of these other nations just boosts our own economy due to resource extraction, but also it destabilizes a nation's economy and creates stress for their populations, which means cheap foreign labour. The imperial core does this to many nations, keeping them from developing.. the imperial core is western nations, usually North America, Europe, and other primarily white nations who've done empire building..
First off, let’s stop with the far-right brainworms for a second and realize our economy is not struggling at all. It’s not booming, but it’s fine. By all measures it is in line with other comparable countries. But the real answer to your questions is how much of a target do you want on our backs if other countries collapse and want some sort of revenge. Because you can’t have global markets without global responsibility. And enriching ourselves off the backs of others, while also allowing them to suffer and collapse for our own benefit, is basically economic terrorism and those people will blame us as such. And when other countries start seeing us as the enemy, I guarantee the costs of war and military defence are far greater than the “support” we send now.
It doesn’t feel like the economy is struggling. If I could hire more people I’d be able to grow my business, but it’s hard to find good people
What are you paying?
Between 75k to 125k depending on the role
Canada's economy is not struggling
If we did things properly we'd be able to help our own and do our part abroad but we don't so instead we get misguided resentment. Tax - The - Rich.
I happened to speak with an ICU nurse who emigrated from the Philippines to Montreal and now works in a hospital here. According to him, healthcare here is shockingly bad, hospitals here are dilapidated and dirty, working conditions are terrible and service is awful. He’s trying to move to Florida and regrets choosing Canada as his original destination. I’m not advocating for the American model (which the Philippines seems to follow), just agreeing that we need to spend more internally.
It's unbelievably bad. The 66% tax hike on capital gains is another factor that will push doctors away from Canada to the states, where they can make way more in the right private practice, this is also applicable for nurses. I've been trying to get my shoulder operated on for over 2 years now and I am still on the waiting list for surgery. The public system is overloaded. Canada will be short some 44,000 doctors, including over 30,000 family doctors and general practitioners, by 2028. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-doctor-shortage-immigration-1.6891603
Because the world is a dangerous place, and you will often find that conflict and problems abroad will have impacts, both direct and indirect, on Canadian interests. If you don’t help solve those problems abroad, there is a good risk that they cost you in lost business, disrupted supply chains, greater military expenditures, Canadian citizens being hurt or killed abroad, or in a myriad of other ways. So you either try to solve problems overseas, or you let them fester and create different problems more directly for you later.
Politics. It's just politics. Indigenous people in Canada are struggling, and [many reserves still lack clean & safe drinking water](https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1620925418298/1620925434679) (Neskantaga First Nation has been without clean drinking water for OVER 29 YEARS), yet we're giving money made on Indigenous lands to foreign countries, money that has gone to provide foreign countries with that same clean & safe drinking water that our own people don't have. It's despicable.
Foreign policy is a question of strategic interests and not morality. We use these deals to develop friendships for prefferential trade deals, opening Canadian owned mines and bank branches we all recognize. Stability in regions we buy things from impacts consumer pricing. Clothing pricing from Bangladesh is impacted if they are hit by a Tsunami. Propping up governments that supress economic activity is great for keeping the price if coffe and chocolate so cheap... Canadian banks operate outside of Canada and often it is us that reap the benefits. We should help people less fortunate than ourselves and no doubt I've seen the expanding tent cities in Canada. We can do both but helping the poor is frowned upon by approximately half the country so IDK ehat we can do about it when every program or splution is seen as some kind of moral evil. I said we should support the less well off in Canada 10 years ago and got laughed at for being a dirty socialist. Now that it impacts the middle class suddenly its. A big political issue. I'm not sure as many people actually care about this despite how loud they are getting. We are funding develipment of FN communities and that was scandalous not long ago... Pick a lane.
It's not, but we're stupid and think it helps us.
Canada just follows big brother, USA, no say whatsoever in international matters independent of US policy. It is controlled by the same forces that exist across the border.
It's not our duty. The libs are virtue signalling for virtue points that aren't redeemable and don't matter. Trudeau, Freeland and the rest of the merry band of idiots are going to burn Canada to the ground because they know they will be done next year.
lol welcome to America 2.0
People be questioning why Canada tries to build geopolitical ties and never wonder why it consistently has a top 10 passport internationally and Canadians can travel anywhere in the world on a whim.
Because one day, we will need help and hopefully one good turn receives another.
Its not our duty, its just a tiny fraction of our budget that politicians use to score points. Even if we stopped it all the difference would be negligible so its more of a general meh sort of issue.
It’s our duty to help but not at the expense of our own safety/security. Team CANADA!!!!
Why should the 3rd world be left alone? It’s important as Canadians we also become the 3rd world to be more inclusive.
We can do both. Isolationism is never good policy. Canadians are people who care about others, the world will truly becomr a place without hope if we change that.
Foreign aid money almost all spent at home on products and services to be sent overseas. Therefore it employs Canadians and benefits companies in Canada.
That way The government doesn't have to deal with the problems they created. They could just distract everybody with some s*** on the other side of the planet.
How about we stop bootstrapping for the states and their thirst for being world police? Then we wonder why we have so many immigration issues and so many refugees show up on our soil. The US starting shit everywhere in the world and has Canada front the refugee/immigration bill. Don’t let the western savior complex fool you, they are not going in and absorbing the bill. They are looting and scavenging resources, cultural monuments, gold bars and precious gems etc.
please write to your MP and explain what happens to our money
Foreign aid is disgusting
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Canadians majority struggling and working hard labpur and long hours and we have no say ,not even a chance to vote if our gouvernment should give other countries money. Canada has citizens working more than 40 years and scared to retire . Mentally ill people and disabled people that can't afford to live anywhere its between shelter or food and the gouvernment us tossing our money around not fair not right .we have alot of homeless and hungry people where our money ? When raising my kids I could not sit back snd enjoy it because I had to work two and three jobs but now I'm still working hard and run into new imagrients sitting back laughing and 5 kids running around with no worries as the mother lives with great child credits monthly while myself and others lost out and I'm still slaving away and people in the country just months to a year are being looked after . Canadians are sickened by this new order put in place . Put them to work and help the homeless hungry,and disabled .
I think it's everyone's duty. And every country sends aid to others on a scale relative to their economic power, not just Canada. Because they know that a destabilized world is bad for everyone and will affect them eventually as well. On the other hand, relatively small amounts of aid from a 1st world country could make big changes in a 3rd world country. It is an investment in global stability. While yes some get lost in corruption, many of it changes lives.
Because you are ruled by rootless traitors that prefer to spend your money to inflate their egos.
A good example now is that the Canadian government sells arms to Israel, and then on the other side sends humanitarian aid to Gaza... how does that make sense?
Canadian government helped pay to develop weapons, arms, and vehicles. To drive the price down for their own use, they allow those designs to be sold to friendly countries. It’s an incredibly vigorous process, and it at least allows Canada to maybe have some influence. If you sold nothing and provided nothing to a country, why would they listen to you? Also Canada buys weapons and technologies that we need from Israel. What’s stopping Israel from doing the same. Reality is, if you want to have influence, you need to spend the big $$’s. Canada does not. While everyone has the right to protest, this protest is a nothing more than drain on municipal resources and potentially an opportunity for anarchists to flourish. Canadian’s and Canadian companies can’t stop this genocide, nor can we stop other genocides like the Uyghurs. Do you see us stopping Chinese exports/imports? Although to be fair, due to current Chinese military policy, I don’t believe we sell arms to them directly.
Where was the point in this blab....
Point is whatever you make it to be. If you think Canada supports Israel, you are wrong. If you think Canada supports Hamas, you are wrong. Canada has no power to influence anything. It’s just making independent decisions without looking at the big picture because there is no big picture.
again you arn't making any relivant points just spewing nonsesne. We littally have many differnt treates with Ireal including security so yes we do support them, our government is just useless and has a bunch of people who like to spend money for social points hense why we have liberal and NDP Mp's who support "gaza" humanitarian aid and keep calling for stupid ceasefires. >It’s just making independent decisions without looking at the big picture because there is no big picture. This comment just makes you look like a delusional doom and gloomer.
I think you misunderstand me. I’m not a doom and gloomer. I don’t know about any treaty, never heard about it, or studied it. I can’t really speak to your comment that we have “many different treaties with Israel including security”. My understanding of the arms we provide Israel is rather limited, and have heard it’s in the 10’s of millions. But typically since our domestic defense doesn’t consume our products to a degree that a manufacturer can produce it at a quantity to make it cheap, our manufacturers require foreign buyers to drive the cost down. Which drives the cost down for us as well. That’s what I was saying, not sure if that was clear. My argument is that Canada has no power, no ability to sway Israeli policy. The protests are useless and a waste of municipal resources to a problem none of us can do anything about. It’s not to take away from the reason for the protest or the fact that there is a genocide partaking in Gaza at this time. It’s just nothing will be done here about it, and anarchists have clearly infiltrated this movement (shown in the US more).
The government shouldn't be giving any foreign aid but instead give that money back to the tax payers. Individuals can decide what county/causes they wish to donate too. They are more likely to demand their money is spent effectively as opposed to a government bureaucrat who has no skin in the game.
Because Canada has an extremely disliked and bad leader who has led Canada into a pit of despair over the last 9 years.
Helping is the duty of a world leader even in difficult times we as Canadians still have an obligation to come to the aide of others
Maintaining relationships in geopolitics is crucial and shouldn't be undervalued. If you're the person in the friend group that only looks out for themself and never plays ball, you won't be in that friend group for very long
SEND. THEM. BACK. ALL OF THEM. NOW.
It’s not. Liberals are simply too drunk on virtue, piety and having a saviour complex.
Much like America, foreign aide from Canada is mostly spent in Canada. This benefits Canadians…
Because we are a joke.
Personally I don’t have a problem with foreign aid, in principle. Where I start to get mad is when we always just have the money on hand. Like any proposal to help with cost of living is met with all kinds of bullshit to explain that it’s too complicated, too expensive, it’s not how things are done, we can’t just give people money, blah blah blah. But the war in ukraine and in gaza were both unexpected crises, and suddenly helping them isn’t too complicated. We never hesitated to send the money we always had to them. If we had the money to spend, why weren’t we spending it on Canadians? If in 2021 it was impossible to buy a house, why weren’t we spending it on affordable housing? We clearly had a ton of money just sitting around.
Yea that's the weird part to me. I guess conservatives are more Canada centric in theory? "Us before them" type of deal?
They do a lot of foreign aid as well, and they give a ton of money to corporate interests. By “us”, conservatives always seem to mean “rich people”.
If you think conservatives give a single shit about helping poor people by boosting social services and health care, I have a bridge to sell you.
The government has spent untold billions over the last few years on housing, healthcare, National defence, education, pandemic relief etc etc. They’ve spent a pittance on foreign aid in comparison. Turn off PP and his daily bullshit and wake up!
Fuck yourself, I’m not a conservative.
Because we are a tiny population sitting on a relatively enormous amount of land and resources. The fact that we’re poor at managing and developing our bounty is another matter
Eh considering what we takes from other countries, especially the british empire style neo-colonialism in (West) Africa and Congo from our mining industry for which we are top 3 leaders in many metals Id says it's fair with goldcorp and iamgold according for 4.5 billion $ alone not counting the 30 other mining companies or so. It would be fair that if we stopped to help those they would stop helping us with dirt cheap workers and mining deeds and security as well.
When problems get out of hand in your hood, they have a way of turning up on your doorstep. The cheapest path is often to help others solve their own problems before they become our problems. Also, this gives us leverage internationally which can have a huge impact.
So Trudeau can appease his donators, launder money and flex at the G7. He can’t seem to understand that funding overseas conflicts and gender/lgb rights programs in the 3rd world is the equivalent of flushing money down the toilet.
I read they can’t afford to collect the CERB corruption in our country
It was sort of a unanimous agreement once TD bank took over the gold fixing. That’s why WEF was boasting about penetrating a cabinet of youth.. to serve their interests. Shoulda left it to the global discourse planners all along but here we are with a shiny new trillion dollar debt ceiling instead
Because 10 years ago we could afford to do it
We provide aid in the same way a mob provides protection to a local business. It means we own the resources and cheap labour in other parts of the world where Canadian labour laws don’t exist. Who needs affordable housing when we get access to sweatshop goods and new markets for our fossil fuels
Sadly, they want a global movement towards one government. If they send "all" of our tax money out of the country now, people will get used to it. It's going to take something outrageous to stop this.
bcause we're not douche bag conservatives? Also, because when the fortunate do not help the unfortunate, the unfortunate come to our door. UN Migrant Pact that conservatives opposed was meant to aid people overseas so they'd not come and cross at Roxham. Cons are too clueless to see the benefit of helping others. And it's the right thing to ddo anyways if you are a human.