Afghanistan Committee on Feb. 8th, 2011

[Françoise Ducros]

On the issue of capacity building, we have done a lot of capacity building through a project that we call the CGSO, the Canadian governance support office, whereby we work with various government ministries in Afghanistan. We also work on capacity building through other organizations, including the World Bank, and measures are developed through that project and through various indicators that are sometimes determined by the World Bank and sometimes by us. I can certainly send a summary of that particular project.

[Bryon Wilfert, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go on to the Bloc Québécois. Monsieur Bachand, please.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Is it a ten-minute round now?

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

It's a seven-minute round.

I realize that Mr. Wilfert went over. He had eight minutes. I'll allow you eight minutes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I think he had ten minutes.

[Bryon Wilfert, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

No. I can assure you that it wasn't ten minutes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Was it nine minutes? Can we settle for nine?

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

The more you do that, the lower the time remaining.

You have eight minutes. Go ahead.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I would like to thank Ms. Ducros and her team for being here.

Ms. Ducros, you will see that I have with me the Quarterly Report to Parliament. I have also learned that the Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan, made up of the five ministers who signed that document, has been dissolved.

What is the consequence in terms of the motion passed by Parliament on March 13, 2008? How do you intend to report to Parliament or the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan, which was also created by that motion? Will you have a separate document? Are you going to wait until you are invited to meet with us?

What will be the consequence of that for the overall picture?

[Françoise Ducros]

Mr. Chair, I just want to clarify the question and understand it properly.

In terms of the dissolution of the committee, everything that was reported to the Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan will be reported to FAD, the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence—I forget the French name. The secretariat in the Privy Council Office still exists. Things that were previously reported to the Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan will be reported to FAD.

For the quarterly reports after 2011, particularly for the last quarter, I don't think a decision has been made about how the reports will be made to Parliament. However, it is very clear that they will continue to be made. It is also very clear that there are other mechanisms, including the Departmental Priorities Report and the Report on Plans and Priorities—I apologize for the English terms. All the reports that are made on the separate activities of the various departments will continue.

In terms of the report to Canadians and Parliament, I think the method that will be used after 2011 will be the subject of discussions.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Would you confirm something for me, please. FAD means Foreign Affairs and Defence. Is that right?

[Françoise Ducros]

Yes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

So CIDA is not in...

[Françoise Ducros]

Yes, our Minister sits on FAD.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Your Minister is present.

[Françoise Ducros]

Yes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

But she reports to the FAD Committee.

[Françoise Ducros]

No. FAD is the ministerial committee. The ministerial committee where Afghanistan was discussed, in the past, was the Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan. The secretariat that was at the Privy Council Office is still there.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

You talked...

[Françoise Ducros]

I'm a little bit out of my purview in discussing PCO machinery.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

You talked about three projects, which are still more or less the same and are very important to you.

I'm going to talk about the Dahla Dam first. I think I read, five or six months ago, that security around the dam had changed rather significantly. The security contracts had been changed to security that revolved more around the Karzai government.

Are you aware of that fact?

[Françoise Ducros]

The security measures put in place by our partners in Afghanistan are their responsibility, not ours. We are well aware of the security conditions around the dam. I don't think there has been a change in the company employed by SNC-Lavallin to handle security.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I'm going to come back to the subject because it seems to me I saw that SNC-Lavallin had been put out. It's a security agency that is associated with Karzai and his brothers that replaced it.