How did Canadian aid change under Justin Trudeau?

Canada has always been a consistent force in development funding: It was one of the 20 founding members of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. With Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement, Devex decided to look into the data available during his term to see where the funding went, how many projects were funded, and how much was spent overall during his term. In terms of official development assistance, or ODA, Canada is showing a steady yet upward trend. In 2015, Canada sent out $5.2 billion in net ODA (in U.S. dollars, at 2022 constant prices), which slowly rose to $6.5 billion in 2021, then shot up to $9.3 billion in 2022. According to preliminary data from OECD, Canada contributed $9.4 billion in net ODA in 2023. Though the numbers seem to be high, Canada has failed to meet the 0.7% ODA-to-GNI ratio recommended by OECD, only reaching a peak of 0.38% in 2023. Over the time period, Ukraine received the most ODA from Canada with a total of $4.4 billion, followed by Afghanistan with $1.1 billion, Ethiopia with $976.9 million, Mali with $838.7 million, and then Syria with $821.3 million. Sector-wise, Canada gave the most aid to the health sector. From 2015 to 2023, it gave a total of $5.5 billion, which is followed by government and civil society with $4.7 billion, and then education with almost $3 billion in 2022 constant prices. We acquired additional data for this analysis from Global Affairs Canada’s project portal. This analysis will focus on the fiscal years of Trudeau’s term from FY 2015/2016 to FY 2023/2024. The figures in this article are based on the maximum contribution stated in the dataset which is still subject to change depending on the project status. Not all of the amounts correspond to the actual contractual agreement between the government and the lead implementing organization. The data below will be presented in 2023 constant prices in Canadian dollars (Ca$) unless stated otherwise. What does the data tell us? According to the data on the project portal, there are a total of 3,025 projects with varying statuses and a total of Ca$22.4 billion in funding. The majority of these projects, around 1,970, are already completed while 481 are still ongoing. There are 574 projects worth Ca$2.7 billion that have been terminated. It was in FY 2015/16 that Canada funded the most projects, amounting to 468 projects worth Ca$4.8 billion. From that point, there was a downward trend except during FY 2020/21 where funding spiked to Ca$3.7 billion, which is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data showed that the lowest year for Canadian funding was FY 2023/24, with only Ca$82.7 million. However, this could be attributed to delayed encoding into the project portal. Canada channeled most of its money bilaterally — Ca$17.1 billion to be exact — while Ca$5 billion went to multilateral institutions. There’s also Ca$310.2 million that was given to NGOs and other private bodies. Canada delivers its aid through different means. The most prominent method is through project-type interventions, with Ca$8.4 billion delivered this way. Another Ca$7.3 billion then went to specific-purpose programs and funds managed by implementing partners. The highest single funding line was in 2020, when Ca$1.1 billion was given to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for institutional support. Where did the funding go? The projects listed in the project portal include country breakdowns, showing the percentage of the maximum contribution. In this analysis, we will be basing the rankings on how much a country received as the sole recipient of the funding which also applies to the sectors. In a broader sense, Canada funded around Ca$12.1 billion worth of county-specific projects while Ca$7.1 billion went to projects that cover a broader scope of countries which it grouped into regions. Overall, Canada gave the most to Syria, covering 72 solo projects worth Ca$574.4 million. Iraq followed with 87 solo projects worth Ca$568.4 million, Ethiopia with 79 projects worth Ca$567.2 million, Jordan with 66 projects worth Ca$476.4 million, and Haiti with 83 projects worth almost Ca$466 million. In terms of sectors, projects that focused solely on emergency food aid received the most with Ca$1.9 billion, followed by a similar sector, material relief assistance and services, which received Ca$1.8 billion. Infectious disease control projects received Ca$871.9 million, and then relief coordination and protection and support services received Ca$565.4 million. Who are the top implementers? In this section, we will be looking at the lead implementing organizations. The majority of the top executing agencies are United Nations organizations with the World Food Programme receiving the most funding, around Ca$2.4 billion, which is in line with the sectoral priorities that were listed above. Then Global Fund came second with Ca$2 billion — primarily due to the institutional support given over the years. It is followed by UNICEF with Ca$1.7 billion and the World Bank’s IBRD Trust Fund with Ca$769.8 million. The U.N. Population Fund, or UNFPA, received Ca$726.8 million and the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, received Ca$722.1 million. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance followed with Ca$652.3 million, and then the U.N. Development Programme with Ca$629.7 million. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.