Millions of dollars every month are sent abroad for ‘gender-just rice,’ ‘gender-responsive climate-smart agriculture’ and ‘gender perspectives in … arms control’

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At the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, over the weekend, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada would no longer be conducting a “feminist foreign policy.”

Carney said that feminism would continue to be an “aspect” of Canadian diplomacy, but not the overarching mission.

The comment was made in direct reference to the brand of foreign policy openly championed by Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau. Starting in 2017, Trudeau directed Canada’s various foreign aid agencies and diplomatic organs to start prioritizing “gender equality and empowering women and girls.”

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The policy has occasionally been responsible for some of the most widely mocked Canadian foreign aid projects of the last 10 years. Such as the time Ottawa gave $4 million to Ukraine to fund “gender-inclusive demining.” Or, more recently, when $8.2 million was earmarked for the cultivation of “gender-just” rice in Vietnam. In comments last month to the House of Commons, Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman even singled out the Vietnam gender rice program as a “