The question of the aid is a complex one. The numbers game can kill you. The minister was talking last week of a $5.1 billion budget. She was talking of the $2.1 billion that was given to the African country before. The problem is that in the world we are living, the peace and security issue sometimes takes over what we believe aid is.
Darfur is a mix of all of that. If you pour $200 million there, sometimes we are not sure it's aid. If you pour $300 million in Afghanistan for purposes that mix defence, peace, security, trade, and all of that, it becomes difficult.
So it's an opaque world, aid. The statistics of CIDA are difficult to understand. I'm making aucun reproche.
I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm saying it's complex. I think that your committee should continue what you were trying to do last week, ask questions and try to find out where the money goes.
I've been told stories of how, for example, money often goes directly to government, and when that's done, the people outside the capital see less Canadian money. Why? I don't know. Because more of it stays in the capital. So it's a very complex question, and I think what you're trying to do is very important. The statistics I gave to you, the 143% increase in one year, that's a huge increase, but the other countries lost 65%, mainly the French countries, which...je ne comprends pas pourquoi. Was it on purpose? Was it a grand design? Was it not a design? Was it an accident?
I cannot pass judgment. I look only at facts.