Good afternoon, ladies.
As concerns the strategy that the government has had us talking about recently, it is a far cry from the recommendations in the round table report; however, extraordinary work has been done in the last two years. Among many things, 104 submissions were tabled, 156 oral presentations were made, 50 experts were invited to participate, and there were more than 101 hours of public hearings with the public and experts. A consensus has nonetheless emerged from these consultations, and recommendations were presented to government that are not necessarily part and parcel of the strategy it is now proposing.
When the government unveiled its new strategy, it claimed that the strategy was based on consultations with various stakeholders. Who was consulted, and how were the consultations carried out? We still had to wait for two years to go by before the government responded to the round table reports. What approach did the government use and which groups were consulted? I am not entirely convinced that it consulted the round table reports.
Page 2 of your statement reads as follows: "Host governments are responsible for legislation and programs that meet the needs of their citizens [...]." This is all very well, but in Africa, some countries have no government structure, and most companies operating there are wealthier than the emerging country itself.
How can we encourage those governments to adopt legislation that meets the needs of their citizens, when CIDA has allowed eight African countries to fall by the wayside as it assists others, for reasons known only to the government. I don't know how we could support them. I am referring specifically to Africa, because some countries there have no structure in place and societies are at the mercy of corruption.