Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be sharing my time with Mr. Cotler. I'm going to be quick here.
Minister, in your opening statements you stated that you expect proper treatment of detainees, of course, and that you work closely with your NATO partners. But, you know, our partners, our NATO partners, are putting their money where their mouth is and we're not. Just in the last year alone, 2006, Denmark gave $1.2 million; Finland, $1.1 million; the U.K., $1 million; and the U.S., $2 million to the commission. The Conservatives last year pledged $2,200, but none of it was received by the commission.
My first question would be, how do you expect the Canadian public to believe we're a partner and we care about the treatment of these prisoners with this disgraceful contribution?
Concerning my second question, you stated in your opening statements also that the commission did not request funds from us, but I have a quote here, in the Globe and Mail from your visit to Kandahar on March 23 of this year. You say, “I think it would be improper to give them any money”. So those two statements contradict each other. Even if they asked for the money, would you give them the money? And my first question, as you know, is why are we not giving any money when our other NATO partners are giving over $1 million?
On that, to the members opposite, when the Liberals were in power, we pledged over $1 million in 2003 alone.