Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 31st, 2008

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Just on the Sudan study and divestment, after hearing the witnesses today, it might be a good idea to also invite--I was talking to Mr. McGovern--Finance. So if we could invite the relevant people from Finance.... As you could tell from the back-and-forth questioning with Mr. McGovern and Mr. Hannaford as well, they weren't able to tell me everything I was hoping they would. I asked him afterwards and he said Finance would be helpful there. So could we include them?

I wonder if we have invitations out to people in the civil society as well.

[The Clerk]

The committee hasn't provided any witnesses yet on Sudan.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

That's what I was wondering. I will make sure we get those to you promptly.

So I would be in favour of waiting until we can coordinate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Do you want to postpone it?

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Yes, absolutely.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right. Also, the clerk will take note that we extend this invitation on the finance part as well.

I have Mr. Chan and Mr. Obhrai.

[Raymond Chan, Liberal, Richmond, BC]

Mr. Chair, I have two points. I welcome having the NGOs and civil society representatives along, but I think we probably will not have enough time in that hour to have both the officials and the civil society representatives as witnesses.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We might need more time then.

[Raymond Chan, Liberal, Richmond, BC]

We will probably need more time.

The second point I want to make is that I don't know, because I'm new to the committee, whether the committee has ever had witnesses that deal diplomatically on the international community side. I heard that this is going to be led by the.... You have? Okay, then maybe I'll look up....

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Do you mean on the Sudan?

[Raymond Chan, Liberal, Richmond, BC]

I mean on the Sudan and Darfur stuff. Things might have changed, and I don't know when the last time was that you had them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Have we had people on Sudan recently?

[The Clerk]

We haven't had them on Sudan. We've had them on other issues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

But it is a precedent that we have from other cases, so--

[Raymond Chan, Liberal, Richmond, BC]

Right. On the Sudan issue, I know that the economic side is probably very important, but I think equally important is the political side. I think we should not lose sight of the political efforts we can bring to bear on the problem. So along with the same motion, besides looking at the economic and financial side, we should examine and call witnesses to deal with the political side.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Chan.

We'll go to Mr. Obhrai, Mr. Dewar, and Mr. Patry.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We have absolutely no objections to what the opposition is saying with reference to studying Sudan. At the end of the day, it's always good to do a very good, comprehensive study, taking all aspects into account, to ensure that our reports do carry credibility and are not shifted to one side.

Having said that, now that we have time, I would like to go back, if the committee agrees, to propose an amended motion for the--

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We're not ready yet. We're still on the Somalia motion.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

You will find no objections from us at all.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Obhrai. I like that.

We have Mr. Dewar and then Mr. Patry.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I have just a point of clarification for Mr. Chan. Of course, we were looking at divestment and the economics around that, and that does relate to the political situation. It was similar, I guess, to the discussion we just had with the panel on Burma, with respect to what Canada can do vis-à-vis the horrific situation going on in the Sudan. We look at the divestment policy kit.

I wouldn't be against inviting other guests, but certainly the intent of the motion was to look at a very focused study on divestment.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Dewar.

We'll go to Mr. Patry.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I just want to be sure where we're going. We're still on the second report. We're not there.

If you are on the third paragraph concerning Somalia and Sudan, I agree, but I want to discuss the last item, on the standing committee, before we go to any amendment on any issue on anything else.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Are you referring to the Manley deal?

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Yes, I want to know what--