Mr. Chair, the member is unfortunately factually incorrect about something very important he mentioned both in his speech and in his earlier questions and it is incumbent upon me to correct him. Canada did not close its diplomatic mission in Niger. In fact, it did not have a diplomatic mission there. It had a CIDA office in Niger and the Canadian ambassador to Niger then, as now, is accredited from Bamako, Mali. Perhaps he should look into the history and correct himself on that. That would answer a lot of the questions he was asking himself in his speech.
In addition, the member should know that despite the CIDA office in Niger being closed, Canada continues to have significant diplomatic missions in Bamako, Dakar, Abidjan, Accra, Abuja and Cameroon, all in the area. I do not think it can be fairly said that Canada is reducing its diplomatic representation in the region.
Could my colleague comment on his quote on January 8 on CBC when he said, “We would be very different. This is what the NDP would be doing right now. First of all, we'd be engaged with peacekeeping, peacebuilding and conflict resolution”. That sounds like Canadian troops in the region. Perhaps he could explain that.