Thank you, Mr. Chair.
And thank you, Minister, for coming.
Madam Minister, I would like to say it's just amazing how this member opposite came on the attack and said that the Afghanistan aid policy was a failure, when we remember that it was his government that sent people over there and committed money. Not only that, but standing up in the House of Commons last time, he doesn't want to help the people of Afghanistan--the poor, the women--and support the reconstruction that has been done over there. He even stood up in the House of Commons and said he wants to invade Sudan. Can you imagine that? He wants to invade Sudan in the 21st century. Colonialism is gone, I say to my honourable colleague out there.
What I want to say, Minister, is I came back from the Great Lakes region of Africa. In August I was there. You just mentioned the Democratic Republic of Congo. I met over thirty NGOs out there who came out and said that Canada, CIDA, was doing an excellent job in bringing peace and stability there. I just came back with the foreign affairs committee, which was meeting in Europe, and over there, every country--the Scandinavian countries--had a high degree of respect for CIDA, for Canada, doing its humanitarian work out there. CIDA is well regarded. In the recipient countries they look to us for security and for providing what they really need. And yet these gentlemen over there, across--