Canada’s foreign aid before and after CIDA: Not a Samaritan state

This article reviews Keith Spicer’s 1966 book on Canada’s foreign aid program, A Samaritan State? External Aid in Canada’s Foreign Policy. Spicer’s essentially realist perspective on the reasons why Canada did and should provide development assistance is not only inconsistent with more recent views that justify aid at least in part on humanitarian grounds; it is also difficult to support even from the evidence he presents. The article concludes by comparing Spicer’s views with recent developments in Canadian foreign aid policy, suggesting that Spicer might well approve of the self-interested nature of current policy—but that he would be unlikely to embrace the narrow, short-term perspectives that underpin it, which could hurt Canada’s standing internationally.