Thank you for coming.
I know that all of you are very heavily engaged in Africa. Even your title says Canadian Council on Africa, so Africa is of course your priority. I come from Africa myself, so I know the issues very well.
So we expect when you look at our policy here...and there has been a change in the policy, no question about that. The Prime Minister has stated quite clearly our policy's issues. But that does not mean that it is any major reflection on Africa.
I'm just going to talk very briefly about the closures that you were mentioning, and I believe my colleague Jim Abbott will discuss the foreign aid issue. When this government came into power, it consolidated its expenditures and put in a review process. The first closures that took place were not in Africa. They were in Europe. They took place in Milan and Tokyo as part of it. And then subsequently they went down there. Considering that we had a larger area in Africa and everything, naturally Africa would be looked into. But the purpose of closing the embassies--and I've just been down there to Malawi and Zambia where the embassies are going to be closed--was not to reduce services or take away things, but to use other resources more effectively.
It does not reflect a lower priority for Africa by this government. The priority of Africa remains as strong. We're just consolidating the resources. And this matter will be effective not only in Africa but everywhere else as I mentioned: in Europe, in Asia, wherever we feel government resources need to be more effectively used. That is the basic line. Your speculation about the seven or eight embassies left in Africa does not hold water. We do not know how these things will work, but I can assure you that this government's policy does not at any time mean that there is not going to be any engagement, or that the engagement with Africa will be reduced.
Now, having given that political point of view and the embassy closure point of view, so that it is very clear, I will turn it over to my colleague here, who will talk about the aid policy.