Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I found them very instructive and interesting.
I am going to ask a question that involves the population, but first of all I would like to say a few words about the development models that we have seen in the past. I think that those models may have been misguided, in that they targeted the states and not necessarily the populations.
As for the African continent, I would say that Africa is very diverse and multi-faceted. I believe, as Mr. Sullivan pointed out, that it is really important to tailor our interventions according to each context and each population with which we work. That is an important point to consider. You also talked about the importance of promoting democracy. However, the government has dissolved the Office for Democratic Governance within CIDA. In my opinion, that is a great loss with regard to the promotion of democracy.
I'd also like to open a brief parenthesis. Last weekend, in Edmonton, I met students from the African community. In the context of the Black History Month, they held conferences discussing their vision of Africa, the Africa of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The great potential in that African community was high on the list of important things I took away from that conference. I think we are going to have to help realize that potential and that it would be important to do so. Their point of view is that we have to give power back to the population. We hear about better governance. We do have to encourage states to put in place better governance, but we especially have to see to it that local populations are given back their power. I am getting to my question and it is addressed to you, Mr. Sullivan.
How can you guarantee that all of the local populations will have a voice? Are the measures aimed at entrepreneurs really sufficient to ensure that development will be of benefit to the whole population? How can that be achieved?