'Moral panic': Conservative MP blasts aid to Cuba, urges government to spend it on 'our own people'

OTTAWA — Conservative MP Jamil Jivani said that $8 million worth of Canadian aid to Cuba announced this week was sparked by a “moral panic” that is distracting the government from helping Canadians.

“What more could we be doing for our own people?” said Jivani, in a post on X. “The way this is framed — so you don’t think about it as a choice between money exiting our borders versus money being used to the benefit of Canadian workers and businesses — is the media frames it as a response to the United States.”

Jivani said the Carney government decision on aid is being described as a resistance act or a protest against the United States and its sanctions on Cuba, allowing it to escape scrutiny about how the money could be better spent at home.

Global Affairs Canada announced the sped-up funding of $8 million on Wednesday to help relieve the humanitarian crisis in Cuba, including to assist with food and health-care shortages and blackouts.

Canada’s funding, announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, is part of a joint effort with UNICEF and the World Food Programme.

“As the people of Cuba face significant hardship, Canada stands in solidarity and is providing targeted assistance to help address urgent needs,” said Anand, in a press release. “Through trusted humanitarian partners, we are delivering timely support to vulnerable communities and reaffirming Canada’s commitment to the well-being and dignity of the Cuban people.”

On Wednesday, Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said the party supported the funding, even though Jivani had announced his own opposition.

“The Cuban government has put its own survival ahead of the survival of the Cuban people, with the result of Cubans living in starvation and facing a humanitarian crisis,” wrote Lantsman, on social media. “Conservatives will always be committed to promoting and protecting human rights, democracy, freedom, and the rule of law as core tenets of Canada’s foreign policy.”

It’s not the first time Jivani has been offside of his party’s foreign policy positions. Last week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre distanced himself from Jivani’s comments that some Liberals were having a “hissy fit” over the trade war with the United States.

The Conservative leader said that Jivani “speaks for himself and I speak for the party.”

Cuba in recent weeks has reported a fuel crisis, after U.S. President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and the subsequent halt in Venezuelan oil flowing to Cuba. This in turn made it difficult for Cuba to transport essential goods like food and health-care supplies.

The aid announcement follows Cuban Ambassador Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz speaking to the House of Commons foreign affairs committee on Tuesday about how important Canadian collaboration is for the Cuban economy.

“It is very important for us to have the petroleum products to function,” Diaz told the committee. “The most difficult situation is with the oil product because they affect everything.”

Diaz described Canada as an important partner for Cuba’s economy, saying many investments flowed from Canada in recent years and that he wants to foster the 80-year relationship between the two nations.

“We expect the international community to support the situation for the Cuban people and support it to exist in peace and work in our benefit and benefit of our people,” said Diaz.

In the 2024-25 fiscal year, Canada provided $8.3-million for Cuba’s development, for food security, renewable energy and preventing and responding to gender-based violence.

Cuba is reliant on foreign oil. According to a report published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), 84 per cent of Cuba’s energy supply came from oil and oil products in 2023 as well as 66.1 per cent of net imports of the total energy supply.

Electricity generation in Cuba declined by 25 per cent from 2019 to 2025, according to Cuban economist Ricardo Torres. Blackouts have left 64 per cent of residents without electricity during the late afternoons and evenings, according to Wired.

The IEA reports that 83.3 per cent of Cuba’s electricity came from oil generation in 2023, a 30 per cent increase from 2000.

Diaz also said Canadian tourists are a boon for the Cuban economy.

According to a study by Leadership and Democracy Labs at the University of Western Ontario, tourism accounted for 9.6 per cent of Cuba’s GDP and provided half a million jobs in 2016, after then-President Barack Obama repaired relations with Cuba. Due to pandemic pressures and Trump’s travel bans, the sector has faced decline.

According to Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información Cuba in 2025, more than three-quarters of a million Canadians travelled to Cuba, while 5,000  Canadians live in Cuba permanently, according to FAAD.

National Post

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.