Foreign Affairs committee  Regarding the first point, simply put, the Canadian government feels it is in its national interest to not accept being part of a foreign electoral constituency. That is its policy. Other governments have their own policies. I would add that this issue is certainly different in a

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I really want to clear up the misunderstanding with Ms. Ayala. The Canadian government truly wants Tunisian nationals, be they here temporarily or permanently, to be able to participate in the Tunisian democratic process. However, the Canadian government expects forei

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for your question. I would certainly put it the other way by saying that we're undertaking a lot of effort to build the Canadian identity, to build social cohesion, and to invite a de-integration of all Canadians. So it's a balancing act. While on the one hand we more

Foreign Affairs committee  Allow me to explain in detail how things stand with the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad so that you can understand. Afterwards, I will explain very quickly what the new request we received from the French embassy consists of. The new request has been discussed bilaterally, and

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I think for us the issue here is that we think that elections involving voting districts that include Canadian territories should not be governed by foreign electoral law. We take issue with unilateral imposition of a law in our country that would provide for Canada and dual

Foreign Affairs committee  Oh? It has already been circulated.

Foreign Affairs committee  We would expect that the policy adopted in 2008 would prevail.

Foreign Affairs committee  No.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Foreign Affairs committee  This is not about any particular country. This is a policy that applies equally to all countries of the world.

Foreign Affairs committee  It elects senators, but not on a regional basis. Actually, the website of the French Senate specifies that the 12 senators representing French nationals abroad do not represent French citizens of a specific country or region. We are talking about the global French population. Tha

Foreign Affairs committee  Allow me to go back to and explain what happened in 2008. As I said earlier--

Foreign Affairs committee  Okay? Go ahead. As I said previously, just at the time the cabinet was seized of its discussion with respect to the inclusion of Canada in extraterritorial...[Technical Difficulty--Editor] Is it okay now? We'll try. At that time, we were seized of the request by the Italian

Foreign Affairs committee  Ms. Laverdière, you raise a number of points. Let me try to answer as quickly as possible. On the one hand, I would like to focus on what happened in 2008. The Italian authorities sent Ottawa a request for Canada to be one of the foreign electoral constituencies. We received tha

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Indeed, I am here today accompanied by Mr. Alain Tellier, and I would prefer him to give you his proper title.