The purpose of this study is to evaluate critically the role Canadian foreign aid has played in the development of targeted countries. Since the object of foreign aid should be the creation of economic growth (for reasons explained below), we examine research that looks at the effects of aid on growth and specific standard-of-living indicators.

The 1999 budget provided an opportunity for the federal government to create the conditions under which Canadians could improve their investment returns and, at the same time, reduce portfolio risk through increased diversification. This they could have done by eliminating the Foreign Property Rule (FPR). Instead, bound to an antiquated and discredited industrial policy, the federal government chose to maintain the FPR.

This study reviews the consequences of the exceptional rise in government spending in Canada that was sustained from World War II through the early 1990s.