Thank you, Chair.
One thing that concerns me about this is that I do have to make mention of the motion that the member is trying to bring forward. Let's take a look at the reason why he's trying to bring it forward, and let's be clear.
Mr. Dewar basically wants to create a situation that will force the government to make sure that this gentleman is available to the committee. That's what his motion is about--nothing else, just that. So in terms of the timing of this motion, we know from his own admission earlier that he has been working on this issue for well over a year. The government of the day has made the decisions that they have made, and he has disagreed with those decisions. But the difference between working on them for well over a year and then not being prepared to take counsel in camera tomorrow, in less than 24 hours, doesn't really compute.
If we were to take a look at motions, as the chair has suggested, if I take a look at the motion of my colleague Mr. Goldring, where he is talking about how the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development should conduct a study of Canada's diplomatic and trade relationships with the former Soviet Bloc countries of eastern Europe, central Asia, and the Transcaucasus, including, but not limited to, Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, there is probably some more urgency to bringing that motion forward than the motion that he is trying to elevate at this particular time. This is particularly so because, as I say, although by his own admission he has been working on this for a full year, there's the fact that he can become involved in the discussion to determine the advisability of bringing the motion forward in the first place, which can occur in an in-camera situation, and he's not prepared to wait less than 24 hours when he's been working on it for a year.
In the case of these countries that we're talking about here in the motion by Mr. Goldring, it has a very direct impact on our troops in Afghanistan and particularly on the situation with respect to Pakistan. Those of us who took the time to go to Washington and stayed for the full duration to take in the full three days of information became aware of the fact that the whole issue about Afghanistan is indeed a regional issue.
In addition to that, Mr. Rae, Mr. Obhrai, myself, and others had the opportunity on Thursday last week, in Washington, D.C., to take a look at the impact of the region and the regional countries with respect to the situation in which we find ourselves as a nation in support of the people of Afghanistan. One of the interesting things was that I had the opportunity to bring together ambassadors to Canada who are resident in Washington, D.C. They don't normally come to Canada. They represent their countries. They have presented their credentials to our Governor General, and they are recognized by our country.
I had a very interesting intervention by the ambassador from Kyrgyzstan, and it was followed up by another intervention, in concert with her, by the ambassador from Uzbekistan. They were pointing out that the countries in central Asia, the former satellite countries of the U.S.S.R., probably had an awful lot to bring to us. In that case, in bringing these ideas, bringing their perspectives to us in helping us understand what we're up against in Afghanistan, within that region of the world, and particularly considering the nuclear fragility that we presently have in that part of the world, it suddenly puts Mr. Goldring's motion--although it was made I don't know how many weeks ago--into a place of real priority certainly by comparison with what is a transparent attempt on the part of Mr. Dewar to try to create a situation of getting this gentleman to Canada.
It must be remembered that this gentleman happens to be on the UN no-fly list, which in and of itself creates some very interesting challenges. The difficulty would be quite profound, but it might be worth while if we knew enough about the advisability of moving forward with Mr. Dewar's motion. There is no question in my mind of the importance of Mr. Goldring's motion, with the way things are continuing to unfold in Pakistan.
One of the interesting things that came out of those casual discussions I had with congressmen at an event in Virginia is that only now in the U.S. are they starting to wake up to the fact that the situation they are suddenly jumping into in Afghanistan is not a simple one. As a matter of fact, it's an exceptionally complex situation.
When the ambassador of Kyrgyzstan was with us at the Canadian embassy on Friday, backed up by the ambassador from Uzbekistan, I thought she was very keen and urgent. She wanted to be able to contribute to the amount of information we really should have, in continuing our very diligent work in Afghanistan.
If you take a look at Mr. Obhrai's motions, one of his clauses says that pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development undertake a study researching new models of aid delivery through a comparative analysis of international--
