The figures I've heard and read are in the neighbourhood of between $43 million and $50 million that we spend annually on aid and working with CIDA in China. In the last Parliament, there was incredible criticism from the Conservative Party that this was a waste of taxpayers' money, given the fact that China is such a wealthy country. In fact, there were those who argued that even though China certainly has tremendously improved economically in the last few years, there still are very high rates of poverty, and particularly child poverty. There was some justification for that.
I don't think it's fair of me to ask what you think the government's position should be in that regard, because the political question is a decision for the government to make in terms of whether they want to continue that aid or not. But I do want to ask you the question in relation to those who argue that the money was necessary, that it was a way to almost buy into the Chinese market, that it was a way for Canada to engage the Chinese, saying somehow that, yes, we're concerned about human rights, but we're still helping with aid and we're giving you money to allow for other economic.... There was the economic or business interest tied into that aid as well. Is that in fact fair, or was that just a “somewhere out there” argument?