Foreign Affairs committee  The train was late by 45 minutes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. Distinguished members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, good afternoon and thank you for your invitation; it is an honour to be here. Having had a quick look at the many organizations and distinguished guests who have contrib

Foreign Affairs committee  My comments will focus on certain aspects of the Canadian engagement which, in my opinion, need to be clarified, are confusing and weaken Canada's effort in Afghanistan. I will do so by referring to certain aspects of the Manley report, and providing a number of comments and reco

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think your assessment of the situation is entirely appropriate. My feeling is that NATO is slowly — very slowly — starting to score points. However, a greater concern for me at this time is the lack of progress. For example, why have the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar

Foreign Affairs committee  The answer, Chair, is simple. That's what they are doing right now. They are empowering the people, and that's what we've been forgetting since the beginning. People are saying we are fighting a war, and I still think we are there for the Afghan people. So we have to work with th

Foreign Affairs committee  I was in Bosnia, under chapter 6, and I saw a village put to flames, with people in it, and UN members were around the village not being able even to use their weapons to protect those people. So what I'm saying is that either you are in a defensive position or you are advancing.

Foreign Affairs committee  It is.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's in place now; I'm just....

Foreign Affairs committee  The reason I ask that question, ma'am, is that--

Foreign Affairs committee  It's my time, so I'd like to go on here. The reason for asking the question is to point out the fact that it's very young--and you can interpret whether you want to call it a democracy or not, but you have to start someplace. I can tell you that we're very lucky to live in a cou

Foreign Affairs committee  Not necessarily in Bosnia, but more or less in Haiti. In Bosnia I was serving with the EU observer mission in Zenica.

Foreign Affairs committee  I have been.

Foreign Affairs committee  I was there for at least two weeks.

Foreign Affairs committee  It wasn't long, only two weeks.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's definitely harder because of the security environment, but it's still the same thing. If you go outside Port-au-Prince, there is no law. So what's the use of having police officers if you don't have jails, if you don't have tribunals, and if you don't have the necessary equi