Foreign Affairs committee  I think the priority dollars still belong to Lebanon and to Jordan. Turkey, yes, is definitely a lot more challenged because of an enormous amount of capital outflow due to investors running away from the current political crisis, but I don't think it's nearly as acute. Their camps tend to be a lot better, by the way, and they have paid for a lot of it on their own.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's easy to say they need budget support, because clearly they are spending more. One can say invest in the infrastructure, because that's probably the thing that's most burdened. But that's also a challenge, because we don't know for how long and how many more Syrians are going to be coming.

Foreign Affairs committee  I really do think so. If you want to do something good for the Zaatari camp, stop wasting money on.... I'm sorry, that's not the right word. It's money well spent, but if you really want to get your dollars' worth, get them here and get them out of the misery. Making an extra clinic or an extra something is just putting a Band-Aid on a horrible wound, on gangrene.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Foreign Affairs committee  Okay. Just to point something out, Sweden has taken in 16,000 permanent residents. We can do a lot more than 1,600 in this great big country. We've only taken in 200. Now I do want to point out that if a Syrian applies when in Canada as a refugee for asylum, they've been very favourable to that, and the United States as well.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's called a UN Security Council resolution. It's the only way to do that legally. Both China and Russia have continued to basically block that and veto it. In answer to your previous question, in fact if you look at the manpower of the Syrian army versus the collective opposition—the Free Syrian Army, ISIS, and Islamic Front—the difference is not that much.

Foreign Affairs committee  You need heat-seeking MANPADS. That's the biggest thing that has prevented I think a real balance of power in this conflict. As many have pointed out, the fear is that they will be used against commercial planes. That's why none of the western powers are giving them. Now, the Saudis have recently said that they may change their mind on that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. In fact, the universities are very open to this idea. However, for them to be careful, if you will, about their own balance books, they need to see the money up front, and that's not necessarily the case. In other words, they want to see equivalent cash in a bank account in order to say yes, that a Syrian student will stay with this host family and will eat the same dishes that family is making, and in a dollar figure.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think 20,000 is very reasonable. I have to add here that many Syrians have small businesses that are family-run businesses. There's an immediate opportunity right there to actually give many, whether they are students or not, part-time jobs. When we're talking about a way to integrate people into the community, there are many opportunities to bring Syrians into this country, and they would have a host family very ready.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the invitation. I'm very happy you were all privy to the testimony of the humanitarian organizations first and foremost, because that's the most important element in understanding Syria. We've heard a lot of numbers, but the few numbers I haven't heard, I have to reiterate.