Engineers filling Ottawa streets to petition the betterment of foreign aid.

Meaghan Langille

The Silhouette

Canada has the potential to be a leader when it comes to global development. The problem is that potential is not being realized by the Canadian government and may be hindered further when the next federal budget is presented.

In an attempt to further reduce the deficit, the government has asked all departments, including the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), to present budgets that are cut by five to ten per cent. If a ten per cent cut were to come to CIDA, that would mean a budget reduction by $500 million in funds that are crucial to providing an improved standard of living for the world’s poor.

Although a deficit still exists in Canada, I think it is safe to say that we have fared pretty well in the midst of the global financial crisis. But there are still billions of people in the world forced to make unfathomable decisions on a daily basis – decisions that force people to choose between buying medicine for sick family members and paying school fees for their children.

These decisions are the reality for many. They stifle the potential and opportunities that many of us take for granted. This is the power that poverty wields and that our foreign aid dollars can work towards tackling. However, with potential cuts coming to Canada’s foreign aid budget, we are essentially reducing the deficit at the expense of the world’s poor.

This is something that I and hundreds of members from Engineers Without Borders Canada believe should not happen. We believe aid has the potential to create transformative change for the world’s poor if it is spent effectively and made more transparent.

Six hundred Engineers Without Borders members took to the streets of Ottawa last week in Byward Market, each armed with a balloon attached to a handwritten note expressing why foreign aid is important to each of us.

Once we’d gathered at the busy market, our team popped their balloons in unison, symbolizing what Canada and our developing country partners would lose if we cut our contribution to international development.

In order to continue making progress towards transformative and systemic change for those in poverty, Canada must maintain its investments in essential development programs – programs that empower local champions of development who are intelligent, talented and passionate, but often lack the resources and opportunity to improve their lives, for they are the people who will truly drive the change and unlock the potential of their communities.

Now it begs to be asked, do you feel comfortable balancing the budget on the backs’ of the world’s poor?