O'Toole says he wouldn't cut foreign aid

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole says a government he led wouldn't cut Canada's spending on foreign aid.

You have a right to know how your tax dollars are spent. Two years is too long to wait. The Liberals need to do their job and release a budget. pic.twitter.com/CZT0NeXaIl

— Erin O'Toole (@erinotoole) March 16, 2021

O'Toole made the commitment in a session with the international development community this morning, laying out some of the principles that would underpin his foreign-policy approach.

He says advancing peace, justice, and human rights would be a central tenet of foreign policy under his government.

O'Toole says that would include reopening the Office of Religious Freedom, and also reworking tax rules to make it easier for Canadian charities to operate abroad.

O'Toole says a Conservative government also wouldn't cut aid funding, but would place a greater focus on measuring outcomes associated with that money.

During the last federal election campaign, then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer pledged that if elected he'd slash the international aid budget, arguing Canada was too generous with countries that didn't need the money.