I'm sorry. I thought I had it timed better, but again, I was cautioned to speak slowly for the translators. I was doing so. I'll speed up.
My apologies to the translators and to the members.
The first suggestion is humanitarian. This has already been touched on by the member. It is support for the Government of Sri Lanka at the IMF, but conditionally, in that I have a different set of conditions than those just mentioned. Canada does have the means now to apply leverage from the government on Sri Lanka for the humanitarian ceasefire. This aid to the government is needed imminently. This can be both the carrot and the stick.
As I've suggested, support could be accompanied by efforts to support the Tamil people, demarcating it from the support for the Tamil Tigers. I think this is an opportunity for Canada. Much of the package that's been requested is for reconstruction assistance in the north. We can do so demonstrably on the grounds that funds are for neither party in the dispute, but for the Tamil population. It would complement the special $3 million aid package and the earlier tsunami package already committed to by Canada.
At this point, I would conclude on this. Sri Lanka can be a case study of the healing role of humanitarian support in transitional or post-conflict situations.
The second recommendation is on the political side. Canadian regional and multilateral support is needed for transitional politics. Do we have plans for long-term political transformation in Sri Lanka after the humanitarian crisis? Clearly, the longer-term solution resonates from our prior engagement, with which one member has been very prominently engaged, for power-sharing and accommodation. But we can't achieve those conditions for implementation alone. It's going to take the global community working together on various aspects to create the conditions by which an international effort can lead to a role for accommodation and power sharing. I think Canada perhaps can play a leadership role in an international effort.
Finally, on the development side, I'm suggesting that equitable redevelopment may be possible here. That would conceive of this as an all-of-government program approach, an alternative approach to what we're currently undertaking. Generally speaking, we can use Sri Lanka as an example of an alternative approach, a program approach, because there are unresolved conflicts and questions of equality and dignity in Sri Lanka.
If we wish to become a significant force in situations of post-conflict transitions, we have an opportunity before us. We need an integrated package in order to respond appropriately. There's a saying right now that we should not “waste a crisis”. States such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan offer Canada opportunities to evolve effective packages as a player in the evolving global environment. This crisis is an opportunity to conceive and implement a Sri Lankan program.