Foreign Affairs Committee on April 9th, 2014

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

I think this is a very big crisis and we need to be there. This is why we've committed a lot of money in Syria. Of course we've condemned loud and clear when workers are attacked or even killed. We condemn it loud and clear. Now, as I said, the challenge is to work closely with the specialists of those societies and credible partners like the Red Cross and Red Crescent. They do a very good job there. There's also the Aga Khan Foundation, and so on. They know exactly what the situation is on the ground. It evolves fast. It can be the regime. It can be factions among the rebels. It's quite a complex crisis.

I just want to let you know that Canada can be proud. We are the sixth largest donor there. We are very active in the region, and with the Prime Minister's delegation, we announced money also for Jordan. They desperately need help there too, because there is a huge number of Syrian refugees there and they have to cope now with their infrastructure systems. So we are very active.

The key in this is to make sure we keep a close relationship with the governments, like Jordan, and also with credible partners to make sure we are effective on the ground, while keeping pressure also against these terrorist attacks. Again regarding the situation of the workers, we have to continue to condemn this loud and clear.

In summary, this is basically where we are. So far we've committed $385 million for the Syrian crisis.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Tremendous critical change has swept Ukraine, including the replacement of the discredited regime of President Yanukovych and the annexation of Crimea by Russia. So Ukraine now faces Syria's domestic challenges.

Can you comment on Canada's support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Sure.

First and foremost, we want to work with the new government on a financial package. Obviously the group best placed to do that is the International Monetary Fund. We've committed two sums, $200 million and then $20 million, to an IMF effort. They've gone in to make a diagnosis of the economic challenges that the government faces and then are working on what the prescription would be of having to get by. Obviously from the new government, the challenges are that they need to make major reforms. We want to take a balanced approach, particularly with what's going on with the influence of Russia there. We'll wait and see when the IMF comes back, but we indicated a significant amount of support, $220 million, which does put us up in certainly the top seven or eight countries with respect to assistance.

Also we've offered a wide range of support to the new government on capacity building, whether it's on money laundering, anti-corruption, good governance, elections, election monitoring. We've given them a blanket offer and said to come to us and to tell us what they need, and our ambassador on the ground is working there. They have enough funds to get them through the next few months. At the same time, there are so many challenges facing the new government. The reality is that they have presidential elections on the 25th. So if there are going to be new directions, we'll see what happens when the new president is elected. But we're prepared to be very generous there, particularly on the capacity-building side. They have lots of money in Ukraine; it has just been plundered from the people for years.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Minister, the government has just sold Macdonald House, our diplomatic mansion in the heart of London's posh Mayfair district for almost $530 million.

What value does this sale and those like it present to taxpayers?

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Actually, it was greater than $530 million. I think it ended up at $562 million because of currency fluctuations in our favour. This is going to be a phenomenal thing.

Canada House has been derelict and virtually empty on a permanent basis for decades. The Canadian Olympic Committee used it during the London Olympics. Some people moved out of there years ago. But you have this great historic building in Trafalgar Square that's become derelict, rundown, not kept up, and then you have our main mission in Mayfair.

The department made the decision before me that they wanted to get out of Mayfair. It required a lot of upgrades, and it's filled with asbestos and the like. What we've done is we've purchased the building that abuts Canada House, and what we'll be able to do is have some of our folks there and some in the main Canada House building. They will be able to break through the wall so it will be one team with everyone together. We also will be able to rent the top three floors and have a source of income. Even after fixing up Canada House, after purchasing the new building and remodelling it to fit our needs, we're going to be able to send about a quarter of a billion dollars back for taxpayers, which is important. This is, I'll be frank, one of the only examples where I can say it's a home run. We're going to do more with less, and we'll have everyone working together.

For the clients we serve—travellers, students—it's right in Trafalgar Square, one of the hearts of the world, so it is a phenomenal win. The residence was in Macdonald House, and now the high commissioner will take the former residence of the number two, and the number two can rent an apartment like everyone else in the department.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

Ministers, thank you very much for taking the time to be here today.

We're going to suspend very quickly to go in camera so we can deal with some committee business.

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]