Canadians are tired of funding the world while struggling at home
According to government polling, 59 percent of Canadians say foreign aid is an area where federal spending should be reduced.
There is a growing mood in this country that Ottawa would be wise to understand: Canadians are not becoming cruel; they are becoming exhausted.
Exhausted from being told to sacrifice more, pay more and expect less while their own government sends billions of dollars around the world.
According to government polling first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, 59 percent of Canadians say foreign aid is an area where federal spending should be reduced. Three out of five Canadians, a majority.
And it is not difficult to understand why.
Canadians are watching their neighbours line up at food banks. They are watching young families give up on owning a home. They are watching seniors split pills, skip meals and return to work because their pensions no longer cover the cost of living. They are waiting hours in emergency rooms and months to see specialists.
According to the Canadian Medical Association, 5.9 million Canadian adults lack reliable access to a regular family doctor, nurse practitioner or primary-care team. Food Banks Canada recorded nearly 2.2 million food-bank visits in March 2025, the highest monthly total in Canadian history and nearly double the number recorded in 2019.
A United Way Centraide Canada survey found 46 percent of people in Canada could cover their basic expenses for only one month or less before falling into debt. Twenty-seven per cent said their financial situation had worsened over the previous six months.
But Ottawa is still baffled that Canadians might want the government to spend less overseas.
The political class will call it compassion fatigue, but really, it's government waste fatigue. Canadians are tired of being lectured about their moral obligations by politicians spending money taken from people who are barely hanging on.
The federal government’s latest Statistical Report on International Assistance shows Canada recorded $13.36 billion in international assistance during the 2024-25 fiscal year. That works out to more than $36 million every day, more than $1.5 million every hour. That's roughly $350 for every person living in Canada.
Some of that figure includes loans and the first-year cost of supporting refugees inside Canada. But all of it falls under the government’s international-assistance accounting, and all of it ultimately lands on the same taxpayer.
According to the government’s own report, Global Affairs Canada accounted for approximately $6.38 billion. The Department of Finance recorded another $3.72 billion. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada added $1.96 billion, largely for the first-year domestic costs of refugees.
FinDev Canada accounted for another $400 million. The International Development Research Centre spent more than $192 million. Environment and Climate Change Canada recorded nearly $55 million in international assistance. The RCMP recorded almost $21 million. Natural Resources Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency, Parks Canada and even the Canadian Space Agency appear in the foreign-assistance accounts.
There seems to be no corner of the federal government that cannot find a way to spend money outside the country. Meanwhile, Canadians are being told that a tax cut would be reckless.
But billions distributed through foreign governments, international institutions, consultants, contractors and non-governmental organizations are treated as sacred.
Ottawa always has a reason. It is for development. It is for empowerment. It is for inclusion. It is for sustainability. It is for capacity-building. Whatever that means.
The language is carefully chosen to sound virtuous while telling taxpayers almost nothing about what was purchased.
The largest national recipient in 2024-25 was Ukraine, which received approximately $3.11 billion. That included $2.9 billion in loans intended to support Ukraine’s macroeconomic stability, with $2.5 billion tied to the G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration initiative. Those numbers are contained in the government’s own international-assistance report.
Canadians can support Ukraine while still demanding an honest account of the money, the conditions attached to it and whether it will be repaid — the minimum level of scrutiny that should accompany a multibillion-dollar commitment.
Palestine received approximately $167 million in bilateral and multilateral assistance during the same year. A recently released parliamentary response on Canadian funding in Gaza shows funding growing from approximately $6 million in 2017 to roughly $55 million in the latest year covered. That money moved through a network of United Nations bodies, international charities and organizations operating on the ground.
The government insists it conducts due diligence and screens its partners against terrorist-financing rules. But Gaza is controlled by Hamas, a listed terrorist organization in Canada. Canadian taxpayers deserve clear proof that their money is reaching civilians and that local organizations, beneficiary lists and distribution networks are not being manipulated by Hamas.
Canadians are paying for the aid. They are paying the organizations that receive it. They are paying the bureaucracy that distributes it. They are paying for travel and hospitality the bureaucracy cannot conveniently itemize. Then they are paying for the opinion research that tells Ottawa they are sick of paying for it.
Ottawa knows how Canadians feel. The government commissioned the research. It has the results.
Fifty-nine per cent of Canadians would reduce foreign aid.
Instead of respecting that judgment, Ottawa and the foreign-aid lobby portray these Canadians as uninformed or selfish.
Perhaps Canadians understand the situation perfectly well. Perhaps they have concluded that a government unable to provide basic services at home should reconsider its ambition to manage social, economic and political development around the world.
Charity may begin at home, but under Ottawa’s current priorities, it begins just about everywhere else.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Editor-in-Chief, Alberta Bureau Chief, member of the board of directors, and host of The Gunn Show at Rebel News. Sheila also serves as President of the Independent Press Gallery of Canada. A mother of three and longtime conservative activist, Sheila is the author of bestselling books, including her most recent release, Independence Blueprint: What Alberta Can Learn From Quebec.
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