Quebec independence on foreign aid? Province muses about going solo on aid

QUEBEC – The Quebec government is taking initial steps aimed at potentially creating its own international-aid agency.

The pro-independence government raised the idea of wresting away Quebec’s share of the Canadian International Development Agency budget, to create its own body, during the recent election campaign.

It’s one of numerous ideas being floated by the Parti Quebecois under its plan for so-called “sovereigntist governance,” which aims to loosen ties to Canada.

Now the provincial government has asked a Quebec association of development groups to study what such a provincial department should look like.

The PQ government says the federal government’s aid programs have become tainted by the priorities of the federal Conservative party.

The federal government has said it wants to increasingly pair aid efforts with Canadian mining projects abroad.