Aid and Ebb Tide: A History of CIDA and Canadian Development Assistance

C. Top Twenty Recipients of Canadian Government-to-Government ODA at Five-Year Intervals, 1960-61 to 1995-96

452 Aid and Ebb Tide has been weighed down with more and more ornaments of quite different sizes and shapes, often hung with the best of human intentions. The jumble of policies, projects, and priorities that have decorated the tree through the sec­ ond half of the century reflect the interests and concerns of a mixed variety of actors—Ottawa mandarins and politicians, lobbyists for business and non­ governmental Canadian interests, the international aid community,and CIDA officers in particular. The needs and aspirations of the world's poor are reflected much more faintly. While there is much to criticize about the historical record of develop­ ment assistance, not least the collapse of budgetary support in the 1990s, the need for ODA is as strong as ever, especially for countries and people who have limited access to other forms of capital. It is true that economic growth has been dramatic in parts of Asia and Latin America, and that many devel­ oping countries have experienced remarkable improvements in health, life expectancy, and literacy. However, the gap between the world's richest and poorest has widened alarmingly,much of Africa remains desperately deprived, and poverty and human insecurity—often amid abundance—are on the rise everywhere. The 1970 Liberal white paper proclaimed: "a society concerned about poverty and development abroad will be concerned about poverty and devel­ opment at home." That statement was preceded by a corollary that, alas, appears more apt today: "a society able to ignore poverty abroad will find it much easier to ignore it at home."111 Commitment to collective action ebbed with the end of the Cold War, the success of right­wingefforts to delegitimate the state as an instrument of human betterment, and the onset of a fiscal crisis that weakened the popular will to accept responsibility for the less fortunate at home and abroad. Now, as an obsession with deficit reduction gives way to the prospect of a fiscal surplus, there are strident calls for tax cuts, debt reduction, and reinvestment in domestic health care and education. Weaker voices remind us of the needs of the insecure and the disadvantaged in Canada and around the world, and of the commitment once made to channel a tiny but growing percentage of our national income to support people in developing countries in their efforts to achieve better lives for themselves and their children. Appendices Appendix A Canadian Official Development Assistance: Selected Components, Total, and ODA/GNP Ratio, 1949­50 to 1996­97 ($ million) Fiscal year 1949/50 1950/51 1951/52 1952/53 1953/54 1954/55 1955/56 1956/57 1957/58 1958/59 1959/60 1960/61 1961/62 1962/63 1963/64 1964/65 1965/66 1966/67 1967/68 1968/69 1969/70 1970/71 1971/72 1972/73 1973/74 1974/75 1975/76 1976/77 1977/78 1978/79 1979/80 Bilateral — 0.01 25.27 5.52 11.72 12.55 25.32 22.44 58.13 66.93 61.17 46.74 37.04 28.15 40.19 65.44 85.78 163.18 139.02 149.15 198.09 264.10 267.15 322.37 364.84 495.55 507.73 466.41 541.13 533.45 598.77 Multi­ Industrial ODA/GNP lateral Voluntary cooperation Total ratio (%) 12.99 12.49 0.97 2.26 2.11 3.34 2.44 7.27 3.94 3.73 5.84 20.36 21.24 28.09 21.29 34.38 34.04 47.33 48.24 56.12 69.82 67.46 99.89 156.96 190.07 204.35 331.65 422.09 421.24 485.52 493.37 — — 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.49 0.76 1.76 3.15 8.57 9.10 12.74 17.29 22.50 28.19 35.29 42.24 49.78 73.60 77.50 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 0.02 — — 0.06 0.06 0.14 0.12 0.11 0.09 0.25 0.46 3.95 12.99 12.49 27.12 7.83 14.44 16.45 29.37 29.73 62.08 70.67 68.19 73.48 59.10 57.65 64.03 100.89 122.35 212.89 190.44 210.71 277.21 345.42 396.66 513.29 590.18 748.21 903.54 966.47 1,046.24...