Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is pledging that upcoming budget cuts at Global Affairs Canada will not compromise the ability of Canadians to get help when they run into trouble overseas.
The federal budget includes significant reductions to the department’s spending — $561 million next year, rising to $1.1 billion within two years. Despite the scale of the cuts, Anand told the House foreign affairs committee on Thursday that consular support, trade work, and front-line services at embassies will remain intact.
Her assurances come after internal warnings earlier this year, when officials cautioned that global instability — including costly evacuations from Sudan, Haiti, and the Middle East — has dramatically increased the workload needed to protect Canadians abroad.
Officials now say the department will look for savings by “modernizing” how consular support is delivered. That includes shifting simpler cases to an online self-service portal and reducing some in-person consular assistance positions. More complex cases will still be handled by embassy staff.
Anand insisted that even with changes behind the scenes, Canadians facing emergencies or needing urgent help overseas will continue to receive the support they expect from Canada’s diplomatic network.