With regard to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and all Canadian missions since January 1, 2008: (a) has there been a gap of more than two months between the departure of an existing Ambassador and the arrival of the replacement; (b) in how many cases has the department had to send departmental officers or former officers hired on contract to fill in these gaps; (c) what has been the cost of these temporary deployments; and (d) what was the cause of each of these gaps?
In the House of Commons on May 10th, 2013. See this statement in context.