Foreign Affairs Committee on May 25th, 2009

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

Merci beaucoup. Thank you, Mr. McKay.

As you know, in March 2007 the advisory group to the round table, made up of many public officials, academics, NGOs, and businesses, presented their report. What are the differences between Bill C-300 and the recommendations and conclusions of the round table? Is there anything you didn't really like in the round table report?

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I think the round table report is a comprehensive report, far more so than Bill C-300 could ever be. I think I just quoted the third and fourth recommendations. I've got all six here. I have no objection to any one of them. If there is an objection, I don't know what it is.

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

Are there any differences between yours and theirs? Is there anything more specific in your bill than in the round table itself?

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

The round table doesn't move to the issue of any kind of sanction. Bill C-300 does. It does move a millimetre along those lines. In that respect, Bill C-300 is a rather modest attempt to actually have consequences to findings.

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

If I understand properly, it means that Bill C-300 is going a little bit further, as with CPP, the pension plan, investing in pension plans. We don't have any round table.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

It would move the goalposts.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much.

I want to thank you, Mr. McKay, for coming today and for introducing us to your bill. We've already been introduced to it in the House. I think you can be assured that we will give this very close scrutiny as we study this bill over the next few weeks.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We're going to suspend for a few moments and wait for the minister to come. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be here to discuss the estimates.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Bonjour, colleagues.

In our second hour, we're very pleased to have the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and officials from his department, including Greta Bossenmaier, who is the associate deputy minister of foreign affairs, and Bruce Hirst, who is the assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer. We thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs for working with our committee in the past and also for working with our clerk in making this appearance possible.

As the chair of this committee, I note that the cabinet has always treated us with the utmost respect and has consistently and readily responded to our calls to appear before this committee, and we appreciate it very much.

You're here today for the main estimates. We look forward to your comments, Minister. You know the ritual, and then we will go into that first round of questioning.

We have been requested to stop at 5:15 for committee business. I'm not certain if that's something the committee wants to think about. At 5:15, I may ask the committee again if it wants to do that.

Mr. Minister, we look forward to your comments.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Thank you very much, Chairman and colleagues.

When I last appeared before the committee in February, I noted that my department was embarking on its second century of existence at a time when the world around us is also undergoing profound and rapid change. The global economy remains in turmoil. The political environment is marked by unpredictability and danger. Solutions to many of the issues we face, from peace and security to the struggle for democracy to cross-border challenges such as pandemics and climate change, are beyond the reach of any single country acting in isolation.

That is why we are continuing to advance Canada's role in the world and why our government is committed to providing the strong leadership that Canadians expect and deserve.

The primary goal of our government's foreign policy is to advance and protect the prosperity and security of Canadians while promoting Canadian values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

To meet today's international challenges, our government has focused Canada's foreign policy on specific priorities: creating economic opportunities for Canadians by pursuing emerging markets, with a specific focus on our valued Asian partners; a renewed relationship with the United States and strengthened engagement with the Americas; peace and security in Afghanistan, including in the context of neighbouring countries; and exercising and strengthening our Arctic sovereignty.

With respect to our first priority, creating economic opportunity with a focus on emerging markets, it is not surprising that our recent foreign policy has been heavily focused on the economic problems we face as a member of a global economy. Our government, together with our global partners, is working to address the immediate global economic downturn while turning our attention to the rules and institutions that underpin the global financial system.

We are already deeply engaged in preparing to host the 2010 G8 summit in Ontario, and we have played an active role in the G20 meetings that have been held. Canada's exceptionally resilient system has been widely recognized as an international model, including by the World Economic Forum. Both the G8 and the G20 have provided Canada with key opportunities to shape the international response to the economic crisis. In addition, our government has advocated strongly against protectionism, a short-term temptation that we know from past experience leads to long-term damage.

Continued trade liberalization and increased access to new and traditional markets will be fundamental to advancing and protecting Canada's prosperity. That is the driving principle behind the government's global commerce strategy. That is why we have worked to strengthen our economic relations with countries like Japan, China and India.

Over the past year we have announced six new trade offices in China and three in India. Since 2006, our government has undertaken 16 ministerial level visits to China with my visit this month being the most recent.

We continue to actively engage with our largest trading partner and one of our closest allies, the United States. We have begun an intensive dialogue, led by the Prime Minister and supported by the active engagement of some 20 ministers, including me, with the Obama administration to engage the U.S. on a wide variety of issues. From immediate concerns, such as the economy and Afghanistan, to long-term issues, such as climate changes, energy security, and the Arctic, I regularly engage the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on these issues of importance to Canadians.

Our government has also re-engaged in the rest of the Americas with a strategy that has sought to promote economic prosperity, along with security and democratic governance, through bilateral and multilateral engagement.

The fifth Summit of the Americas provided an excellent opportunity to make progress on all of these fronts. During that summit, we were able to announce a temporary $4 billion U.S. increase in our callable capital to the Inter-American Development Bank an innovative approach that will enable us to double the IDB's lending capacity without any direct cost to Canadian taxpayers.

A new emerging leaders scholarship program in the Americas will allow up to 1,600 students from the region to study in Canada every year.

A trade-related technical assistance program will allow countries signing free trade agreements with Canada to maximize the opportunities and benefits of increased trade and investment.

A $5 million contribution to the Organization of American States' hemispheric electoral assistance initiative will help countries in the region improve the transparency and effectiveness of their electoral process.

And we have continued to pursue our goals on a bilateral basis, a campaign that has included some 25 visits to the region by ministers and senior officials.

Canada has also maintained its commitment to security and development in Haiti where we remain the country's second largest donor of bilateral aid, and are contributing 100 police officers to the development of a professional Haitian police force. We will maintain our focus in Haiti on high-level political engagement as well as specific activities to promote stabilization, reconstruction and long-term development.

I'm pleased to tell the committee that as part of our high-level political engagement with Haiti and our commitment to the Haitian people in their efforts to strengthen freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law I will be traveling to Haiti soon. As a matter of fact, I was supposed to go tomorrow, but since none of the opposition parties agreed to accompany me, I had to cancel the trip.

Let me turn now to Afghanistan, where we have pressed on with a whole-of-government approach to support security, stability, and democratic governance.

We have established six clear priorities and three signature projects to ensure a measurable improvement in the lives of Afghans between now and 2011. Specifically, we have worked to enable the Afghan National Army and police in Kandahar province to sustain a more secure environment and to promote law and order; strengthen Afghan governance institutions and local democratic structures in order to deliver core services and promote economic growth; provide humanitarian assistance for vulnerable populations; enhance border security by facilitating a bilateral dialogue between Afghan and Pakistani authorities; help advance Afghanistan's capacity for democratic governance by contributing to effective, accountable public institutions and electoral processes; and support Afghan-led efforts towards political reconciliation.

The ultimate goal, colleagues, remains the same: to leave Afghanistan to Afghans in a country that is better governed, more peaceful, and more secure.

Turning to the Arctic, our government continues to demonstrate our sovereignty over the lands and waters of the Canadian Arctic. The Arctic is not only an integral part of Canada as a territorial fact, it is also central to our identity as a northern country. We have embarked on a variety of measures that make up a comprehensive strategy to affirm Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic through our government's Northern Strategy.

These measures included: conducting a comprehensive mapping survey of Canada's continental shelf; investing in key Arctic science and technology facilities; enhancing our military presence; concluding the Ilulissat Declaration on the Arctic Ocean; and extending the Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act to 200 nautical miles.

We continue to play a vigorous role in the Arctic Council—including at the recent ministerial meeting which I attended. We are also pursuing our Arctic policy agenda on a bilateral basis. I've had the opportunity to have bilateral meetings with the United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway.

In addition to our government's key priority areas, we have been active in a number of other fronts. In Africa, for instance, we have worked with partners in the region and beyond to address key security and governance issues, for example, in Congo, Zimbabwe, and Sudan.

Canada's foreign policy priorities are also about people and values. The values that Canadians share have taken us to the far corners of the earth, where we continue to be engaged in addressing ongoing security threats, including terrorism, international crime, nuclear proliferation, and fragile states.

We've been active in promoting democracy, and our efforts have included sponsoring the United Nations resolution on human rights abuses in Iran and improving the effectiveness of the UN Human Rights Council.

We have made an effective contribution to the international response to natural disasters in Haiti, China, and Burma.

Finally, we have launched a vigorous effort to gather international support for a Canadian seat on the United Nations Security Council for 2011-12.

The past year has been a busy period in Canadian diplomacy—requiring us to address challenging political, security and economic issues in North America, the hemisphere and further afield. Nevertheless, I'm confident that we will be able to meet those challenges going forward.

With that, Mr. Chairman, I would be happy to respond to the committee's questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much, Mr. Minister.

We'll move to Monsieur Patry.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I will be sharing my time with my colleagues.

Minister, thank you for being there with us today. I would like to talk about the 2009-2010 report on plans and priorities of your department. In fact there are two reports, and in one of them, human capital is designated as one of the main risks. I'd like to know what your department is doing to mitigate that risk.

It says here that governments and management are also part of the main risks. Your department points out that deficiencies in government and management could lead to "an erosion of relationships with federal, provincial and international partners."

I'd like to know what your department is doing about those two risks, but especially with regard to human capital.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Patry.

With regard to risks, I must remind the committee of investments made by the department to improve the working conditions of our colleagues. In some places on this planet, the conditions are part and parcel of the raison d'être of our mission. That is notably the case of Department of Foreign Affairs officers who are working in Afghanistan. Circumstances are not always easy for these people.

Concerning the risk incurred, I would however say that generally speaking, managers ensure that our people do not have to face situations or places that are high-risk. Nevertheless, if that were the case, we would ensure that these people be well protected.

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

What are the most recent statistics you have on recruitment and attrition in the department? From our end, we get the impression that many people are leaving the department right now without necessarily being replaced, for budget reasons.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Pontiac, QC]

On the contrary, this is a normal turnover rate. I will let the witnesses and Bruce Hirst, our expert on the matter, explain the exact figures. I don't have them at hand, but Bruce does. He can complete my answer.

[Bruce Hirst, Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade]

Since 2008 we've had 9,783 applications to get into the department. I think that's quite telling about how applicants see us and want to get into the department. In 2007 we hired 240 new foreign service officers to help eliminate some of the vacancies we had. Of the 160 we hired, 89 were visible minorities, which has helped add to the diversity of our workforce.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Hirst.

We'll move to Mr. Rae, the critic for foreign affairs, and not the Prime Minister or the minister.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing me down to earth there. I was getting quite excited.

Minister, I know you met with President Abbas today. We will be meeting with him tomorrow in various caucuses. I just want to clarify the position of the Government of Canada with respect to the situation in the Middle East. Is the position of the Canadian government still to support a two-state policy?

[Bruce Hirst]

That is correct, sir.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

What is the position of the Government of Canada with respect to the settlements that exist beyond the so-called green line, which was the boundary that existed prior to 1967?

On the website, the position of the Government of Canada seems quite clear: it is that as a government, we don't recognize the legality of those settlements. There was some report today of comments that you either may or may not have made; I don't know, but I'm giving you a chance to clarify the position of Canada with respect to those settlements and the position we are taking in encouraging direct talks between President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

[Lawrence Cannon, Conservative, Pontiac, QC]

Thank you for that question, colleague.

The position on the website is exactly that. We've always deemed that any future expansion of settlements is illegal and is contrary to aiding the peace process. Therefore, we do not support it. If you come back to what you stated before, we are strongly supportive of a two-state solution. You mentioned that. It is the Government of Canada's position. The Government of Canada is also very supportive of the peace process, whether it be the Annapolis process that started up a couple of years ago or the road map.

In my discussions with Mahmoud Abbas regarding his view of the situation--and you'll probably have the same kind of discussion tomorrow--we certainly feel encouraged and buoyed by his determination to reach a peace settlement in the Middle East, and we encourage him to do so. Likewise, this position that I've expressed here I have equally expressed to Mr. Netanyahu when he was premier-elect.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Glen, do you want to take a question?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Go ahead, Mr. Pearson.

[Glen Pearson, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Minister, thank you for coming.

In the priorities and planning you have put out in your estimates in the budget, it says that overseas spending will drop by $86 million by 2011-12, with the greatest cut, $75 million, being planned for this year. I'm wondering if you could tell me the rationale.