I don't disagree with that observation.
Isn't there, then, an inherent contradiction? On the one hand, the extractive sector is working—because many of these minerals are underground—in countries where they're sorely lacking in some of those reliable, transparent, democratic institutions, basic things like the rule of law, as you say, the independence of a judiciary, some public financial system that has any sense of public support and transparency in terms of governmental finance, anti-corruption laws and so on. It seems to be a curse that many of these minerals are in countries that unfortunately haven't advanced to where I'm sure they want to be or where we would like them to be. Then you have these Canadian companies, because that's the sector of the economy they operate in, going after these mineral deposits, which is not in and of itself inappropriate, but because of the context it becomes that much more complicated.
Does your group have a view on what the Government of Canada, and particularly CIDA, public institutions in Canada...? You touched on a few multilateral financial institutions, but what could domestic Canadian institutions like CIDA do in a more robust way to help some of these countries implement or achieve greater institutional stability and transparency as a precursor perhaps to other forms of development?
My sense is we've missed an opportunity, after the Arab Spring and we hope the emergence of some of these democracies, to help them at a very critical time build greater capacity in public institutions in their own countries, and therefore there may be a backsliding and we may find ourselves in a similar situation or worse situation than before some of these circumstances led to such an increase in hope. Can you see a greater role for Canadian public institutions in that aspect?