With all due respect to my colleague opposite, I don't know where he would come from to say that all the international community--I don't know what evidence you have for that, or how you can support such a statement--does not support the candidacy of Gérard Latulippe. You may have some people saying that, but we could provide a whole lot of people internationally who would support the candidacy. We don't look to international agencies in our selection of candidates. That would not be normal protocol. I'm sure the member would understand that.
With all due respect, I wanted to come back to something you mentioned that caught my attention, about access to parliamentarians from many parts of the country. It certainly has been my experience, when I've had visitors from other countries, that they just can't believe that we walk around as members of Parliament. That's true for all of us in this room. We have such an open democracy here that we can debate with people and we walk around without armed guards, with some exceptions for senior ministers. But for most of the members of Parliament, we do have such access to people. That's certainly something that many countries do not enjoy. So I applaud you; you've got some strategies to help encourage more openness. It's a big job in many countries where people to do not have that experience.
Let me just pick up on a couple of countries that I'm concerned about. In recent months we've heard troubling evidence of human rights abuses in Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, for example, amongst others. Can you tell the committee if Rights and Democracy has any projects under way currently, or is planning to instill in the future, to address human rights abuses in countries such as the ones I've mentioned?