Geography Isn't the Problem

There's an interesting piece by Eric Reguly in Monday's Globe on the shift in Canadian development aid from Africa to Latin America. Reguly reasons that recent thinking on the problem of aid dependence is responsible for the shift in aid. That makes very little sense. The problems with aid dependence are present whether you're digging a well in Ethiopia or El Salvador. That doesn't change. Stephen Harper may have a case to make as far as focusing our foreign aid to our neighbours with whom their is greater possibility for trade down the road. He should make that case. Aid dependence, while a real issue in modern development programs, is a red herring.