Canada's UN Security Council Bid Costs Keep Mounting

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Priyadarshinee N
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The vote to send a new country to the Security Council table at the United Nations is creeping up, and so is Canada's spending to secure a seat around that table.

Canada has been campaigning for one of the rotating slots on the UN Security Council for three years. There's one year left until that 2021 spot is decided, and the spending isn't slowing down.

Documents show the government has ramped up spending as the clock ticks down.

Since 2016, $1.5 million has been spent on the campaign — $1 million in the last 10 months alone.

The papers released include inquiries to the ministry from MPs about gifts to foreign dignitaries during Canada's pursuit of the Security Council seat. The replies revealed that there is no set budget for these gifts.

Precise details on who received gifts were not provided due to privacy reasons, but the presents included everything from key chains to wild Sockeye smoked salmon.

Canadian officials have made dozens of trips for this campaign, and at least $1 million in additional money was spent in the 2016-2017 fiscal year on salaries for 11 government employees in Ottawa and New York dedicated to the bid full-time. Data was not provided for other years.

united-nations un-security-council un-security-council-bid security-council-table
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