Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. First, though, if you will allow me, perhaps I can answer the last question a little better. Did I have contact with the Canadian government? As the environment secretary, I did not have contact directly with the Canadian government, but there were demonstrations before the Canadian embassy in Buenos Aires by the communities that were affected by this project.

Foreign Affairs committee  I will start with your first question on the legal part. I'm not a judge, I'm not part of the judiciary, so I cannot say whether Barrick complies with the law or not, but I can say that Barrick Gold has dozens of legal claims before the court right now. There are two claims against the company before the Supreme Court of Argentina, before the ombudsman of Argentina, before the provincial government ombudsman of San Juan, so there is a lot of doubt and legal claims being made about the compliance of the company with the law.

Foreign Affairs committee  I was not in touch directly with the Canadian government. I was in touch with the Chilean government, because it was a binational project and it was our counterpart during these operations.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, Mr. McKay. When President Néstor Kirchner, the former President of Argentina, requested that I join government as the Secretary of the Environment, he decided to put the Secretary of the Environment at the ministerial rank. He gave four times more budget than we'd had before, and Argentina managed to receive the biggest loan ever from the World Bank, $800 million, for the performance of environmental policies in Argentina.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, members of Parliament. I'm honoured to have the opportunity to speak before the committee on a matter that greatly affects both Canada and Argentina. I speak before you today in two capacities, first as a former Secretary of the Environment of Argentina serving under the previous and present administrations; and second, as the president of the Center for Human Rights and Environment, a globally prized organization over which I now preside, based in Córdoba, Argentina.