Question Period Note: Adapting to the changing development context

Canada is adapting to an evolving development landscape as the global aid architecture faces deep challenges, rising geopolitical competition, and shifting donor priorities.

• Canada is assessing its international assistance framework and tools to improve agility, focus and development impact. No decisions have been made on levels of funding for international assistance as an expenditure review is ongoing across the Government of Canada.
• We can expect future efforts to prioritize areas of mutual benefit for Canada and partner countries such as inclusive growth, trade readiness, and private sector engagement.
• Canada's international assistance will continue to reflect core Canadian values - human rights, gender equality, diversity and inclusion, support for the most vulnerable, and a commitment to a better future for all.
• Canada values its partnerships with multilateral, Canadian, and local partners, who together play an essential role in shaping inclusive and sustainable development outcomes for the poorest and most vulnerable.

The global development landscape is rapidly evolving. Official development assistance (ODA) is in a period of contraction, with the latest OECD projections (July 2025) showing a 9-17% decline in ODA in 2025, following a 9% decrease in 2024. This trend is driven largely by reductions from key donors - including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States - all of which reduced ODA allocations in 2024-2025. This contraction is occurring amid intensifying geopolitical competition, weakening multilateral consensus, and increasing strain on institutions that have historically coordinated global development efforts.

The Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) positioned Canada as a leader in promoting gender equality, climate action, and global health, delivering meaningful results. As the International Assistance Envelope (IAE) returns to pre-pandemic levels - projected at $5.6 billion by 2026-27 - Canada is reassessing how best to deliver effective aid in the current global context. Canada will continue to champion gender equality as a core value, while rebalancing its efforts to reflect evolving foreign policy priorities. Going forward, we expect a more focused approach, placing greater emphasis on supporting inclusive economic growth, trade readiness, and private sector engagement that benefit both partners and Canadians, while continuing multilateral engagement to address key global risks. This includes adapting tools and strategies, updating the international assistance toolkit, exploring new approaches to programming, and reviewing partnerships to ensure that they are fit to address future challenges.

Canada remains committed to the SDGs and supports inclusive and sustainable development. Canada is engaging in key aid architecture reforms processes such as the UN80 Initiative to modernize the UN system, multilateral development bank reforms aimed at improving efficiency and unlocking new financing, the Gates Commission on the Future of Development Cooperation, and the ongoing OECD-Development Assistant Committee (DAC) review focused on strengthening donor coordination and aid effectiveness.

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