Thank you, gentlemen, for being here.
I hate to have to use my time to do this, Mr. Chair, but I do have to correct the record. The OECD report was by and large positive for Canada. We had many compliments in that report. In fact, the Toronto Star even said it was largely positive.
We were complimented in the OECD report for eliminating tied aid. We were complimented for focusing our money down from 100 countries in 2003, I believe, and now we have money in 48 countries. What was said in that report is that Canada's aid money is far more effective today than it ever has been. I needed to clear the record on that.
The other thing I need to clear the record on is that mining companies are not delivering Canada's aid money. We have projects that we are doing in tandem with mining companies. I refer to the one that we looked at in Burkina Faso, where WUSC in particular, which is an NGO that is handling all of the funds, is working in cooperation with Barrick Gold. They have a project that is giving young people the opportunity for skills training and education, which they never would have had before. The mining company is working in tandem with WUSC, and WUSC has only complimented CIDA for the good work it is doing in getting that money into that country.
I'm sorry I had to use part of my time to do that, but I had to clear the record.
Gentlemen, when we started this whole investigation, we had Hernando de Soto here as an intervenor. He talked about the necessity of having governance structures in place, the importance of having a free and fair judicial system, most importantly. That is what's going to give any company, be it international or domestic, that is making an investment the confidence that should there be any sort of a dispute, such as a territorial dispute—maybe somebody thinks they're encroaching on his land—there is a free and fair judicial system. That is one of the most critical parts that has to be in place.
Do you not agree that these things have to be working in tandem? It's not about going in at the beginning and creating some parliamentary system, or bureaucracy, or judicial system, and then the private sector comes in. Do these things not have to work hand in hand? If you don't have the private sector there contributing tax dollars, how are you going to have any sort of a parliamentary system that's paid for out of tax dollars, growing and available to learn the very things that you are trying to contribute?
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound terse. I'm terse because I had to correct the record at the beginning.