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Canada working closely with EU on foreign aid as U.S. pulls back, Sarai says
Ottawa says it's working with EU on foreign aid
Canada's deepening ties with Europe could help fill some of the massive gaps left behind as the United States pulls back from foreign aid and embraces a "transactional" approach, says the secretary of state for international development.
"When we put all our heads together, I think the opportunities are endless," Randeep Sarai told The Canadian Press.
He said this effort includes recent talks with the European Union on leveraging private dollars and philanthropy for aid, while maintaining some government funding for the world's most vulnerable.
Sarai is overseeing a shift in foreign aid as the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney cuts back on global health spending and encourages more private funding in development projects.
Ottawa is cutting spending across government, seeking new trade partners and boosting the defence budget to make Canada less vulnerable to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats of annexation.
The Trump administration shut down the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, leading to what Harvard University researchers estimate to be hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.
In April, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that the U.S. in 2025 accounted for 17 per cent of spending by rich countries on foreign aid, down from 30 per cent a year prior.
U.S. spending on foreign aid dropped by 57 per cent in 2025.
Most major donor states, including Canada, have cut back on aid funding. Ottawa spends about 1.6 per cent of its budget on foreign aid.
"Taxpayer dollars are very valuable. So if we can bring in the private sector along with them, the goal is (that) eventually the private sector will invest on their own. But initially, we'll use the taxpayer dollars to entice them," Sarai said.
Sarai added that Europe has looked to Carney for guidance on so-called blended finance because of his experience as a United Nations official.
Carney's UN role was to advise governments on climate finance, including ways for governments to work with the private sector and philanthropists to transition to net-zero carbon emissions.
Ireland hosted a meeting of EU development ministers earlier this month and invited Canada to attend.
Sarai said much of the discussion in Dublin was about how to leverage private capital without abandoning support for the world's most vulnerable people.
Sarai said Canada and European countries are also working with other nations with a reputation for robust foreign aid, including Japan, Korea and Gulf nations.
He said American officials have "come back, to some degree" on aid spending by funding vaccines for children in poor countries.
"Their aid has to benefit the American economy and American people," Sarai said.
"They have very clear guidelines on that and transactional nature of it, but that's their direction. So I would say it's very different from the other G7 partners, but at least we know where we're at."
The push for more private dollars in aid has many critics.
Co-operation Canada, a coalition of most Canadian aid groups operating abroad, said the sector supports innovative funding, with some caveats.
"If we are to use public funds to incentivize private capital, then there need to be some guardrails around … that we're we're using our public funds in the most efficient way possible," said Paul Farran, the group's advocacy director.
He said aid dollars shouldn't be used to subsidize endeavours that the private sector wouldn't have otherwise funded.
"Our international assistance should first and foremost be used to alleviate poverty and inequalities," Farran said.
Sarai said Canada is not going to surrender its support for the world's poorest to market forces.
He said that applies to Canada's programming in the 32 nations the UN describes as the world's least developed countries, as well as projects that focus on sexual health and reproductive rights.
He said the government has a different approach in high-growth countries, where it pursues "mutual economic prosperity" through projects that benefit Canadian companies and investors while creating jobs abroad.
"The Vietnams, Indonesias, Philippines in the world, we believe that they can now take care of those areas themselves. We don't need to invest in those particular areas for them," he said.
Sarai cited a new aid project in Thailand which will see Canada's development finance institution FinDev lend cash for microloans to women in rural areas looking to launch or expand businesses.
Canada is lending roughly $85 million, which is being matched by $280 million from the Japanese bank SMBC and the Asian Development Bank.
Last month, The House finance committee, which has a majority of Liberal MPs, called on Carney last month to provide predictable and clear aid funding in the Nov. 5 budget.
Aid groups told the committee that the federal government says its supports for refugees inside Canada amount to more than 17 per cent of its total development assistance. While that's a standard reporting practice for western countries, the aid groups said it makes it hard to tell how much Canadian cash is actually going abroad.
The MPs on the committee argued aid spending should be "guided by poverty and fragility" and should have "increasing transparency in the international assistance envelope."
The MPs also urged Canada to "reaffirm gender equality and women’s economic empowerment as drivers of poverty reduction and, therefore, as central priorities." Carney caused confusion a year ago by suggesting Canada no longer has a feminist foreign policy.
Co-operation Canada supports those calls and is urging Carney to reverse cuts to global health programs.
Farran said Canada should earmark $5.5 billion annually for "core" development aid abroad, which would boost funding for things like building schools or helping women advocate for political rights.
He also said Ottawa owes the public more clarity on how it is spending foreign aid and where it's cutting back.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
By Dylan Robertson | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Cette friperie à Montréal est parfaite pour trouver ton costume d'Halloween à bon prix
Pas besoin de te ruiner pour le costume parfait! ✨
Avec les partys d'Halloween qui s'ajoutent à ton calendrier, tu risques d'avoir besoin d'un ou plusieurs costumes, et il faut le dire, ceux faits maison ont souvent un look plus authentique que ceux que tu peux acheter dans les magasins éphémères dédiés à cette fête. Si tu veux justement te servir de ta créativité pour te déguiser cette année, une friperie de Montréal est l'endroit idéal pour dénicher des morceaux uniques à bon prix.
À lire également : 9 costumes d’Halloween qui vont faire fureur au Québec cette année
La Chiffonnière Friperie & Café, aussi appelée La Chiffonnière Friperie et Brocante, se décrit également comme une costumerie, où pièces funky et costumes remplissent les rayons. Tu peux donc entrer sans trop savoir ce que tu cherches et ressortir avec un ensemble complet qui risque de faire fureur.
Et à voir les dernières publications de la boutique sur Instagram, il y a de quoi laisser aller ton imagination. Des fantômes qui ont visiblement un faible pour la mode aux sorcières au look mystérieux en passant par des personnages tout droit sortis d'un film d'horreur, les possibilités semblent assez nombreuses. Tu pourrais aussi bien recréer une tenue inspirée de Scream que te concocter un costume de créature étrange ou un ensemble digne d'une soirée d'Halloween rétro.
Pour ce qui est des accessoires, tu peux mettre la main sur des lunettes vintage, des chapeaux, des bijoux, des bottes, des cuissardes et toutes sortes de vêtements qui pourraient donner une touche originale à ton déguisement. Et le plus intéressant, c'est que plusieurs de ces morceaux pourront facilement retrouver leur place dans ta garde-robe une fois l'Halloween passée.
Côté prix, les accessoires et les costumes d'Halloween les plus simples se vendent entre 5 $ et 30 $. Tu peux notamment dénicher des perruques, des masques et quelques déguisements à petit prix. Pour les pièces plus uniques, comme les costumes complets ou les vêtements d'époque, il faut plutôt prévoir entre 40 $ et 80 $. Que tu souhaites assembler un costume de la tête aux pieds ou simplement trouver quelques accessoires pour transformer des vêtements que tu possèdes déjà, tu pourras donc adapter tes recherches à ton budget.
Ton prochain costume coup de cœur pourrait bien être une trouvaille de seconde main, et personne d'autre à ta soirée ne risque d'avoir exactement le même.
La Chiffonnière Friperie & Café
Prix : Entre 5 $ et 80 $
Adresse : 1840, rue Ontario E., Montréal, QC
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Video of contact with possibly rabid skunk in B.C. prompts health authority warning
Video of B.C. skunk contact prompts rabies warning
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Facebook, Vancouver Kick (Mandatory Credit)
Vancouver Coastal Health is warning anyone in the city's downtown who has had contact with a possibly rabid skunk to get a medical assessment immediately after a video emerged on social media.
The video posted on Facebook on Oct. 10 shows a skunk struggling to cross a Vancouver street, attracting a number of bystanders before a man picked up the animal using a sweater and moved it onto the sidewalk.
On Wednesday, Vancouver Coastal Health reported a skunk captured in the city's downtown has tested positive for rabies, but it is unclear if it's the same animal shown in the Facebook video.
The health authority says a small number of people were bitten by the skunk and have been assessed, as well as receiving rabies vaccinations and immunoglobulin as a precaution.
It also says that it is aware of videos capturing other exposures, and anyone in the West End and Stanley Park areas who have had contact with a skunk between Sept. 22 and Oct. 17 should contact Vancouver Coastal Health immediately.
The rabies virus is found in the saliva of infected animals and can be transmitted through bites or scratches, and an infection affects the brain and nervous system leading to possible death.
The health authority says the virus is not transmitted through other types of exposures such as the spray, urine or feces of an infected skunk.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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