Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As a fellow recovering broadcaster, Mr. Clark, I think it's always worthwhile to look at the current situation and then look for normative information. Is this new? In fact, it isn't.
I want to quote a 2010 media report at a time when we were trying to recover from the financial collapse. The report said as follows:
Federal spending on Canadian embassy properties and diplomatic residences abroad has soared 430 per cent since Stephen Harper's Conservative government came to power on a promise to rein in the diplomatic decorators.
After years of trying to move from owning embassies to leasing them, Foreign Affairs is now building a number of new ones, including in Moscow ($8.3 million), Damascus ($6.4 million), Prague ($4.8 million), Dhaka, Bangladesh ($4.2 million), and Stockholm ($4 million).
The media report went on to say:
Construction of a new embassy in Pakistan has already cost more than $7 million just for the land and preliminary plans.
The largest single embassy project detailed in the public accounts [in 2009] was in Kabul, as Canada [prepared] to withdraw from its combat mission in Afghanistan and expand its civilian presence there.
Spending on the project in the past year—
That means in 2009.
—topped $20 million, including $9 million for renovations, $11 million to buy property and another $1.4 million to clear it of possible landmines.
This is kind of the history of what has gone on in the past.
Next to that, the situation in New York in this age of rage, as we're witnessing this morning, seems to be quite mild, so I want to turn back to you, Mr. Clark, to talk about the importance of the efforts that Canada makes.
We saw U.S. protectionism under President Trump, and it's not out of the question that we may see more protectionism, or at least moves in that direction, under whatever administration we have after November.
Can you talk about the value and the depth and scope of building the relationship and why perhaps operating out of a “no-tell motel” somewhere in the precinct of New York City wouldn't necessarily send the right message to the people we're trying to reach?