Dek: Global Affairs Canada’s own Project Browser still lists multi-million “maximum contributions” for gender-just rice in Vietnam and LGBTQ2I programs — approved ceilings, not cash already spent.
After the USAID mess blew up south of the border, a lot of Canadians finally opened our books. Not a pundit’s spreadsheet. Global Affairs Canada’s Project Browser — the same public database Ottawa uses to list international assistance projects.
Here’s what it still shows. Read the dollar lines carefully. In GAC-speak, maximum contribution means the approved ceiling for that project. It is not the same as “already spent.” When a project closes, final spend can come in lower. That honesty cuts both ways: these are real approved envelopes your government put on the books.
The line items (primary)
“Greening our rice: gender-just, low-carbon, rice value chains in Vietnam” maximum contribution $8.2 million. Partner: Oxfam Canada. Period: March 2025 → March 2029. Status: operational. Official title. Official dollar. The description talks climate-smart rice value chains that integrate gender equity, training tens of thousands of producers, workshops to challenge gender norms.”
https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/project-projet/details/p010405001
Act Together for Inclusion Fund (ACTIF) — maximum contribution $18.3 million. Partner: Equitas. LGBTQ2I human rights work with Canadian CSOs and local partners across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania. Operational through early 2027.
https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/project-projet/details/P007609001
(Flag: a 2022 GAC story once called ACTIF “$16.7-million.” The Project Browser now shows $18.3M as the current official ceiling. Use the Browser.)
Faces for Gender Equality – LGBTQ2I+ Rights in Central America — $3.5 million. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. Capacity-building, gender-identity legal recognition strategies, anti-discrimination work.
https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/project-projet/details/p009901001
Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership – Crisis and Conflict-affected Contexts — $25.2 million. Support to women’s rights organizations, LBTQI+ groups, and feminist networks in crisis settings.
https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/project-projet/details/p013656001
There’s also a Renewed WVL Ghana project at $9.25 million on the Browser (news backgrounders floated $9.0M — prefer the Browser). And GAC’s own LGBTQ2I International Assistance Program story still frames a $30 million over-five-years umbrella that ACTIF sits under — don’t double-count the umbrella with the ACTIF ceiling.
https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/stories-histoires/2022/lgbtqi.aspx?lang=eng
The bigger picture (still primary)
Federal international assistance in FY202425 was about $12.5 billion (Overview table: $12,480.84 million). The dedicated gender equality and empowerment of women and girls action area that year: about $261 million. Separately, the same Overview says Canada invested $762 million in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) programming across hundreds of projects — that is in addition to the dedicated gender action-area line, not a subset of it.
Do not claim the whole $12.5B is “gender” or “LGBT” spending. Do not invent a single rolled-up “billions on LGBT programs” total beyond the dedicated $30M program plus these published project ceilings. The receipts are strong enough without cosplay.
The question for habit voters
Canadians know the vibe at home: heat or groceries. ER waits. Rent that eats the paycheque. Cars as bedrooms. We’re not inventing a fake stat here — we’re naming the lived trade-off millions of households already feel.
Meanwhile Ottawa’s Project Browser still has room for gender-just rice in Vietnam and multi-million LGBTQ2I funds abroad.
If you still vote Liberal or NDP out of habit, ask a simple question with the primary open: whose crisis gets a multi-million line item? Still fine with maximum contribution” abroad while the till at home is empty?
Wake up. Follow the Browser. Screenshot the H1 and the dollar row. That’s the receipt.
Primary checklist: rice P010405001 · ACTIF P007609001 · Faces P009901001 · WVL crisis P013656001 · Report Overview 2024–25 · GAC LGBTQ2I story.