Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think he's certainly very keen on running again, health permitting, I guess.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's hard for me to comment in detail on that kind of relationship. I suppose these are two leaders who are very isolated. We can think of other examples in the world where leaders who feel isolated and left out of the mainstream for their own reasons, perhaps, tend to come together, try to work together.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not really sure I'm in a position to comment formally on that kind of question. I can say that having just been in the eastern Caribbean a couple of weeks ago, I was told by governments in the eastern Caribbean that there was a major flow of Andean-origin cocaine transiting Venezuela and going up into the eastern Caribbean to North America or to Europe, and they suggested there was some collusion between the local authorities and the traffickers in the case of Venezuela.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, sir, I suspect it's probably a bit of both. The judiciary may not be as professional as we would want, but bearing in mind the orientation of the government as well, it would put as much or more weight on political loyalty and support of the Chavez doctrine as it would on professional standards.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't have the numbers in terms of the petro-economy and the kinds of revenue that are being produced through that industry, but this is primarily a petro-economy, and they really don't produce much else in Venezuela. So as a result, with that money filtering down, as we've seen in terms of the impact on rates of absolute poverty, there has been progress, and one recognizes that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would answer that perhaps by talking about impunity in a different way. In the context of the judicial system, where there is a high degree of impunity for actions like this—the amount of time it takes to process cases and the low degrees of conviction, for example—people can undertake such actions and not pay or feel the consequences.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The police may have the capacity, but the judicial system, in terms of reviewing those cases, bringing them forward to trial, getting a conviction, and the conviction rates being very low—which is not a situation unique to Venezuela; it's chronic in many of the countries in the region.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have paid special attention to the situation of the Jewish community in Venezuela, which numbers about 12,000 people. As I mentioned, we do assist that community from a consular perspective in facilitating departure in some instances. We've also encouraged the Government of Venezuela to follow through on the commitment to reject anti-Semitism in all forms and to ensure that the Jewish community is protected, including its religious and cultural centres.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee today to discuss the human rights situation in Venezuela. The Canadian government has made the strengthening of our relations with Latin America and the Caribbean a foreign policy priority since 2007.

International Trade committee  Thank you again for your invitation.

International Trade committee  Maybe I'll answer the question on education. We have about 2,500 full-time Brazilian students in Canada annually. The number of part-time students is about 15,000, as I said, annually. So Canada is the biggest destination for language students from Brazil—primarily studying English, but also French—for six months or less.

International Trade committee  As a very quick follow-up on the global value chains, we actually have an officer in our mission in São Paulo who does just that: plug Canadian companies into opportunities in Brazil. The best example I can give is this. We talked a little at the beginning about Bombardier and Embraer and all of that, but the reality is that from a global value-chain perspective, Canada is doing very well.

International Trade committee  Of course, I think it's more complicated for small and medium enterprises. But we are there to help them too. These companies have the same rights as SNC-Lavalin. They are fully entitled to take advantage of opportunities to move forward with export projects outside Canada, for example.

International Trade committee  I would say they do, and it's our responsibility, our mission, to work with all Canadian investors/exporters. We don't make a difference between these two types. The question is still knowing whether the company in question is ready and able to export. That's the key element of the decision.

International Trade committee  Okay. I think it's also an example, sir, of changing the channel with Brazil as we move into new areas of cooperation beyond the traditional ones. In the case of CIDA, in 1968 we started the CIDA programming in Brazil, and according to my numbers, we provided nearly $200 million in official development assistance to Brazil.