It's an important and vital question. It's essential to come up with a protocol that gives the government flexibility and the ability to react quickly. In the current circumstances, that's not what we have.
Global Affairs Canada submits a report once a year. However, the report is late this year. By and large, what's in the report does not really allow for an exhaustive analysis of what is being sold and where it is being sold. The report doesn't indicate how we might get an inkling of what is being done.
I think that the Netherlands has a better approach. In their system, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is required to publish a report every three months. It has to report what is happening every three months to the Dutch Parliament and to the government . Not only that, but if an export permit is granted for a country on the list, like Turkey, the ministry must tell the Dutch Parliament about it within two weeks. If Dutch companies try to sell weapons to Turkey and a permit is authorized, Parliament has to be told about it within two weeks.
This enables Dutch parliamentarians and civil society to respond much more quickly, and it allows for much more transparency, which would not be the case if they had to wait for a year. When reports are published more regularly, adjustments can be much more responsive to events.
One of the problems we have today is that contracts are signed without knowing what will happen in ten years, nor how the equipment will be used. We need to be more agile and to have a better way of doing things.