Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Minister, Mr. Rosenberg, and Mr. Patel for being here this morning.
Minister, you and I have talked about this over the last number of weeks and again this week. Your government has talked about the need for and the responsibility of Canada to play an important role in building democracy. This follows up a bit on the earlier question of my colleague.
From our perspective, the events in the Middle East this year have been remarkable. Dictatorships have been overthrown. Others are clearly threatened. But the success of this year's events--I hope you'll agree with me--will be measured in terms of whether we've instilled democratic values or helped foster democratic values in some of these countries and actually have instilled and helped build the actual instruments of a functioning democracy. Peace in the Middle East in this region and the security of Israel certainly depend on the success of these efforts of Canada and our allies who share these views.
I'm wondering if you can talk about specific projects or give us examples of specific projects that Canada may have been involved in or is considering undertaking with respect to building some of these democratic institutions in this region, and what Canadian NGOs or other partners the government is working with on these specific projects. I learned in your comments in reference to a previous question about a $3-million fund the department had. I had been informed or understood that there was a START fund, which I think the department has for some of these sorts of quick response circumstances.
I'm wondering if the START fund is another vehicle that you're looking at to help fund some of these democratic institutions. I think the START fund mandate is going to expire soon. I'm wondering if the department is planning to renew it or to extend it. Other than the amounts of money, are there examples of specific projects that we're considering in specific countries, and who would be the partners that Canada would be looking to?