Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his expression of concern for the people of Syria and for the refugees that this crisis is creating.
To enlighten those people who may be watching this debate, I would like to let them know how it is that Canada's humanitarian assistance in this crisis has been broken down. My colleague rightly mentioned that Canada has given $7.5 million in humanitarian assistance for Syria. The breakdown is this: $4 million have gone to the World Food Programme to meet emergency food needs in Syria; $2.7 million have gone to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the care and maintenance of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries and refugees and IDPs inside Syria; $500,000 have gone to the International Committee of the Red Cross to meet the emergency needs of the conflict affected people in Syria; and $300,000 have gone to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for the improved effectiveness of humanitarian action in Syria.
Given that the capacity needs to be there to be able to use the money that Canada puts forward, does my colleague not think it prudent that Canada continue to assess the situation in coordination with its partners before we go making those kinds of decisions on other financial contributions?