Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is sending almost a half billion dollars out of Canada in the latest announcement of COVID-19 foreign aid.
Monday’s announcement of $485 million dollars for Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, brings Canada’s contribution up to $1.085 million and it sounds like the Liberal government is prepping for more donations.
The ACT Accelerator is looking for $35 billion to secure 2 billion vaccines, 500 million tests and 245 million treatments for poor countries.
“Canada is really leaning into this space,” said International Development Minister Karina Gould. “The world is not at a point of donating excess capacity because we are just at the very beginning of vaccines getting approved.”
The move was one of Canada’s biggest-ever increases in foreign aid spend. The government spent $5.9 billion in official development assistance in 2018-19.
The ACT Accelerator was created in April by the World Health Organization, European Commission, French Government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
