Yesterday, I was at another debate. There were 200 people, and I had to defend the merger. It was a MUN debate at the University of Ottawa.
I realize that NGOs are not very much in favour of a merger, but if you were to ask me what the biggest concern of the 200 Canadians in the room was, it was where the money will go. How will we track the money down? Is it going to be for other purposes?
Paul did outline the fact that we have to look at it globally, but at the same time, the act must take care of it. I don't know how, and I've said that. I don't know how you fence that, but it should be a little more precise, both within the department and with the 30% around town who are giving money to ODA
The only way you can do it is by having a coherent policy, a strategy that is explained to Canadians, not in a speech but in a document in which we can see what's happening. It's a challenge. You don't want to restrict the movement of that money too much, but you want to make sure it doesn't go all over the place so that in five years' time you have to ask why ODA has gone down from one figure to a lower one. We don't want that. As a Canadian, I don't want that. I work with the private sector, and I don't think the private sector wants that either.