Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. It's really great to have your investment in our discussions here.
Mr. Brown, I had the opportunity to read your paper, “CIDA Under the Gun”, a paper presented at the Canadian Political Science Association annual conference in June 2008. I would very much like to discuss some of the comments you made here.
First of all, I don't think we would disagree at all with your statement that there need to be regulatory processes in place in the countries. I know from my many visits to Africa that we are doing those things. We are helping build capacity in these countries. It's not our place to go in and tell them how to do it. We need to work with the governments of the countries and ensure that they help to build their own processes and their own plans. But Canada is very much involved in a consultational process with many of these countries.
Have you been to Burkina Faso?