Mr. Chairman, the remarks were really meant to elicit the kind of question that has been raised, because I was following the transcript from previous appearances by others in front of this committee. The word of caution I was trying to sound is that others have attempted and others continue to support particular political parties when they're abroad. I'm thinking of the IRI and the NDI. The NDI is somewhat less direct than the IRI, the International Republican Institute, in the United States.
What I saw Canada do in the Ukraine--I think it was in 1991, because I participated--which was through a university effort, was to mount a program for different political parties and the Chief Electoral Officer and pollsters in Canada to go speak and explain how to mount a campaign. All the parties in the Ukraine were invited to attend, and they could send delegates.
The difficulty is that if one party or a number of parties are to be supported directly, then that gets into the question of which parties are supported and which parties are not supported--which becomes the other very operative phrase--and on what basis. For instance, there are 157 parties--or another number, I can't remember exactly--in Iraq.
That's what I was trying to allude to. The numbers are a problem. The choice could be a problem. If there's a general approach and you get the expertise, but it's shared equally amongst all of those who wish to partake, then that is what I would suggest might be the way for us to go.