Advocates call on Alberta government to reinstate international aid funding program
CBC
Advocates for global development are calling on the Alberta government to reinstate its longstanding international funding program following the province's announcement of more than $11 million in aid for Ukraine.
Last week, Premier Jason Kenney announced the province is committing millions for humanitarian aid and defensive military equipment.
During his remarks, the premier said that provincial governments don't normally have international development programs.
The comment took Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC) executive director Leah Ettarh by surprise.
"When he said provinces don't support international development – they do. And Alberta always did," Ettarh said Monday.
For 45 years, the Alberta government ran a grant matching program that often funded health and education projects in developing nations around the world.
It was cut in the United Conservative government's first budget in October 2019.
Quebec and Manitoba still have international development funding programs. Saskatchewan had a program that was discontinued in 2016, Ettarh said.
Ettarh, whose organization is a coalition of Alberta-based international co-operation and humanitarian aid organizations, said the group was thrilled to hear about the province's support of Ukraine.
"I really applaud the government for doing that. And I would like to see it continue," she said.
She said her group hopes the announcement is a signal that the province is open to reinstating the program that ran from 1974 to 2019, and provided support across the world.
According to a review ACGC prepared on the program, it was launched by Premier Peter Lougheed's government in the 1970s and provided support to projects in at least 85 countries, including Ukraine.
Funding levels peaked at just under $10 million annually in the mid-1980s, after which the program faced many cuts and near-elimination. When the former NDP government came to power in 2015, it restored the budget to $1.5 million annually.
The funding was capped at a match of $25,000 per grant, and it allowed small and medium-sized Alberta organizations to fundraise for projects.
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