Levant: Is the folding of CIDA into DFAIT the end or a fresh start for Canadian international development?

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28 March, 2013
By: Ezra Levant
Columnist for Sun Media newspapers and anchor of a daily news commentary show on the Sun News Network

I don’t know if it’s a fresh start, but it’s a change. Canadians don’t believe in foreign aid in itself; we believe in foreign aid that is an expression of Canada’s values and interests. This move will ensure that foreign aid dollars achieve Canada’s goals – not just the goals of people into whose bank accounts our money flows.

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Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

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