Thank you.
I note that our 2007 report also recommended that something be “under Parliament”.
In terms of the funding, we talked about the costs of democracy promotion, but what are the costs of not promoting democracy? What are the costs in terms of what you mentioned, Mr. Twining, such as migration, refugee flows and conflict? Not having inclusive democracies obviously has great costs for the world, but also in our own countries when those refugee flows are coming in.
I noted, Mr. Mitchell, you mentioned that it's actually a time for democratic stimulus
Mr. Twining, you said—and this is quite significant—that democracy promotion should perhaps “supersede other forms of assistance”, because without democracy, when you have corruption and authoritarianism, a lot of the other assistance isn't as effective. I wonder if you could elaborate a bit for our committee. If we're looking at some sort of a larger investment in democracy, particularly something under Parliament, that costs money. What is the flip side? What is the cost of not investing in this area?
We'll start with Mr. Twining this time and then go to Mr. Mitchell.