Thank you, Madam Chair.
Gentlemen, thank you for your presentations. I think all of us found them very interesting.
Mr. Sullivan, I find the work of your centre quite compelling. I think in a few minutes during your introductory comments you summarized in a very cogent and precise way what some of us have been thinking of and wrestling with at this table, and probably in other contexts before, which is how to help many of these countries develop durable, long-term institutions. I thought your notion was very compelling, that is, of the individual versus the institution, and the informal economy versus a more formal, regulated economy with the ability to rely on institutions and structures that protect investment, protect a whole range of business activities.
Mr. Dechert and I were in Haiti last month with Madam Laverdière, and one of the things that struck us was the total absence of a land registry system, or any kind of land title system. You can imagine the ability to raise money or borrow money informally or formally if there's no clear title or any notion of real property. That's probably one of the more chaotic examples, but unfortunately they're not alone in having institutional failings, which exist around the world.
I'm interested about whether, Mr. Sullivan, you might offer us some thoughts on how we could persuade the private sector in Canada to partner either with NGOs or centres such as yours, or other institutions, and possibly with governmental agencies directly, to fund some of the development assistance that would be geared towards institution-building, capacity-building. It's a longer-term journey than simply a six-month or a 12-month project that builds a particular piece of infrastructure. It's often a much more complicated process. In your view, can the Canadian private sector work either with our governmental agencies directly or foreign partners in helping some of these countries build those institutions—build not only the entrepreneurial culture with the individuals, but the structures that can then support that culture and hopefully help them grow their own economies? I'm curious to see how the Americans leveraged private sector participation. It's not a tradition that perhaps we have in the same way here.