Black Habits - More Help For Fewer Countries

OTTAWA - Canada will cut 130 names from the list of countries receiving the bulk of its international aid, as part of a new foreign policy blueprint released on Tuesday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew said that within five years, Ottawa will concentrate two-thirds of its aid budget on just 25 countries â€“ half of them in Africa.

The foreign policy review is an attempt to change the role of the Canadian military and the country's foreign aid objectives. The do*****ent includes plans to:

Reshape relations between Canada, the United States and Mexico, with an emphasis on security and economic ties.

Create a "Canada Command" to concentrate on the Canadian military's new top priority: defending its homeland and the North American continent from attacks like those that occurred against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Improve business ties with emerging economic powerhouses such as China, India and Brazil.

Continue to increase "development assistance and other forms of foreign aid" by eight per cent a year until 2010.

FROM JAN. 22, 2003: Ottawa to undertake major foreign policy review

The Opposition quickly expressed deep disappointment in the 40-page report.

Conservative international co-operation critic Ted Menzies complained that Ottawa's plan to focus foreign aid on 25 countries excludes Haiti, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan and doesn't offer enough to help the Mideast peace process.

"There's no mention of support for the Palestinian Authority," said Menzies.

International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll denied that Canada is turning its back on 130 former development partners.

CBC.CA