Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for appearing here today.
Recently we've been doing quite a bit of work on analyzing or studying democracy, and what can be done on foreign assistance in the area of democracy and good governance. You mentioned Haiti before, and it's very obvious that there's a lot of work to be done in that country too. And I share in some of the concerns that perhaps you would not want to see some of that good work fall by the wayside by want of a little more definition on it.
So am I to understand from your statements here today that the basic definition in the act—and very clearly I read that it's the purpose of the act to ensure that all Canadian development assistance abroad is provided with a central focus on poverty reduction—is very constrictive and that perhaps it could even be strengthened by mentioning democracy, human rights, maybe environment, some of these things, so that at least this would broaden it a bit to be sure to include some of those? Certainly I think it's well understood that if there is a democracy under way, good governance is there, and ultimately that will help the country, help the people, and help to reduce the poverty.
Is it your contention that it would strengthen this bill to perhaps have the basic definition broadened somewhat to include some of the basics like democracy?