ONCE held up as a model global citizen, Canada is facing growing criticism from aid groups over moves to tie foreign assistance to trade through partnerships with mining and other firms.
Plenty of nations use foreign aid to further their political and economic interests, and Ottawa has insisted that in tough economic times a market-based approach involving private firms will ensure aid is used efficiently.
But aid groups counter that in tying assistance to economic gains Canada neglects its obligation to fight poverty, and Ottawa has even earned a rare rebuke from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In January, Canada's International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino announced the suspension of new aid to Haiti over concerns about mismanagement of funds in the impoverished Caribbean nation, ravaged by a 2010 earthquake.
Canada is a leading backer of international efforts to rebuild Haiti, and the announcement drew immediate criticism from aid groups.
Bonnie Campbell, a politics professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, said the changes began in 2009, when the Canadian government axed funding for eight African countries.
Colombia and Peru, two nations that had recently signed free trade agreements with Canada, were meanwhile added to Ottawa's list of top aid beneficiaries.
"Those picks are worrying," said Campbell.
"We're choosing targets for aid based on Canada's commercial interests and we're distancing ourselves from our international obligations to reduce poverty."
The latest changes even drew criticism from the OECD, which last year deemed unfortunate a five-per cent reduction in Canada's foreign aid budget, saying its "new approach to foreign aid is neither sufficient nor transparent."
In a response to AFP, Fantino touted the private sector as "absolutely essential for job creation and durable economic growth, without which developing nations cannot break the cycle of poverty."
He said Ottawa had obtained positive results by focusing aid on the "social, economic and health needs" of people in poorer nations and defended its partnerships with mining and other firms.
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