OTTAWA -- The Liberal government has spent the last week rolling out a new foreign policy. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland gave an overarching speech that positioned Canada as a champion of the global multilateral order that is under attack from the Donald Trump administration in the U.S., and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan spoke to increasing defence spending over two decades.
On Friday, International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau outlined the country's future direction on foreign aid.
Here are five things about Canada's busy week in foreign affairs:
1. Freeland says Canada will make its diversity an example to the world and that it will stand up for the persecuted and the downtrodden. She says Canada will "set a standard" for how women, gays and lesbians, transgendered people, racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious minorities and indigenous people are treated in the world.
2. Because the U.S. has chosen to "shrug off the burden" of being a world leader, Canada will work with other "like-minded" countries to protect international institutions such as the United Nations, NATO and the World Trade Organization, Freeland said
3. Sajjan said the government is committed to a $62-billion increase in defence spending over the next 20 years. The military will add 3,500 regular force troops and 1,500 reservists, while buying 15 new warships, 88 new fighter jets and armed drone aircraft capable of unmanned air strikes.
4. Bibeau said Canada's new "feminist" international development strategy will reorient plans so Canada can fight poverty in the world by focusing on women and girls. But for now, Canada won't add new money to its $5.3 billion annual development budget.
5. She said the new policy, a result of consulting 15,000 people in 65 countries, has three core elements: preserving human dignity, empowering women and girls, helping local communities thrive.
