Conservatives

→ Want to focus Canadian aid on a few specific areas, including education and health

→ Have promised to untie all aid within the next five years

→ In 2007, Harper announced at the G8 leaders summit in Germany that Canada will be focusing more on the Americas than on Africa. The level of aid to Africa the Conservatives will provide if re-elected is unclear. As yet, the specific details of the plan for the Americas are also unavailable

Liberals

→ Providing aid to Africa

→ Increasing official development assistance to 0.7 percent of Canada's gross national income, but without a timeline for reaching that goal

→ Making conflict resolution a focus of development efforts

→ Establishing Canadian Centers for Democracy to offer training and capacity building initiatives in support of democracy and good governance. The first of these centers is planed to be in the Middle East

→ Increasing Canada's foreign aid spending by $500 million

→  Leading the world battle against neglected tropical diseases, helping eradicate Lymphatic Filariasis in Haiti

 NDP

The NDP have not yet released a comprehensive aid policy, but they have said that they will present a plan to provide better aid, forgive immoral debt, fight preventable disease and make trade fairer.

The NDP also advocates:

→  Increasing foreign aid, mostly focusing on alleviating poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa, tuberculosis and Malaria

→  Meeting the 0.7 target

→  A UN peacekeeping mission to Darfur to stop the genocide

→  Support for efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate change in developing countries

→   Ensuring that development assistance is not used to force privatization of developing countries public resources, assets, services

→  Ensuring that the concerns of developing countries are addressed in international trade organizations

 Green

The Green party's promises and commitments include:

→  Reaching the official development aid target of 0.7 percent by 2016. They believe that such funds are needed to make poverty history, cure diseases, foster democracy, and support sustainable economies

→   Provision of antiretroviral drugs to African countries to help fights HIV/AIDS

→  Revamping CIDA to focus on developing community-based green economies, and programs to combat and adapt to climate change

→  Stopping the genocide in Darfur, and increasing pressure on China to end its alleged complicity in the genocide

→  Restore Canada's peacekeeping role and help to build a UN force to respond to conflict and climate disasters

→  Press for nuclear disarmament and declare Canada a nuclear weapons free zone

The Bloc:

→  Has promised to meet the goal of spending 0.7 of gross national income on aid by 2015

→  Plans to meet the UN Millennium development goals to reduce poverty, reduce the infant morality rate, encourage sustainable development and fight HIV/AIDS

→  Will demand more accountability and transparency from CIDA

→  Plans to create a 20-member consultative council on aid development to advise and report to CIDA