That's an excellent question.
I can't speculate on what might have been or could have been, but if we look back at the results that we've achieved over the years through our diplomatic engagement with Cuba, I think we can say that we have definitely benefited the Cuban people through the development projects that we've done, with the blessing of the Cuban government.
We have certainly been able to have open and frank dialogues about increasing transparency within their government institutions and about our human rights concerns, particularly with regard to political prisoners and the treatment of those prisoners, most recently in the wake of the protests in 2021 and our concerns related to the folks who were arrested after that. If we did not have those diplomatic channels, this wouldn't allow us to respond to the concerns of the Canadian people about what is happening in Cuba.
Our diplomatic engagement with Cuba has been very much based on the premise that it's better to have a conversation, to be able to try to talk through our differences, to recognize where we're not aligned and to say the hard things at times. As said by a member of your committee who's not here at this time, I'll say that we're friends, and having friendly relations allows us to speak uncomfortable truths at times. Canada has sought to do that.