Finance committee  I hope I can be clear, then. Thank you for your question. I think essentially, because of the much larger role that NGOs play on the international scene, the capacity they've developed in the past, and communication in general, plus because of the mentality—if you would allow me

Finance committee  Yes, certainly, and many times. In fact if I may add, Mr. Chair, I was in Kinshasa not long ago in the context of the upcoming Summit of La Francophonie. We are raising those questions, those concerns, we have about democracy and human rights very forcefully. In fact we are tak

Finance committee  I don't want to pre-empt what we as officials will present to ministers, but certainly at our level we see that we have a problem. It's something we need to address. We'll make recommendations to ministers, hopefully rapidly, about the fact that it is a challenge. The world is ch

Finance committee  That goes back to a period that was before my time. In fact, there were no problems that made the headlines, as happened after that, certainly. It should be pointed out that there was a pretty tragic event, since Mr. Beauregard died during that period. That further highlighted th

Finance committee  It seems so, yes.

Finance committee  Rights and Democracy had a very specific mandate, which was established by Parliament. The organization could not operate outside that mandate. I am referring to the question of this type of tool. Is this the most useful one, today, for implementing the objectives of the governm

Finance committee  It is very difficult for me to answer that question, because, essentially, the minister has to decide what tools he wants to have available to him for implementing policies he has himself decided on. I think it is important that this question was asked because it certainly had t

Finance committee  I mentioned a few organizations. I am going to give you some examples that we work quite closely with. I mentioned International IDEA and the Parliamentary Centre, and I talked about the Carter Center. It is easier for a government to work directly with those organizations today

Finance committee  Thank you for the question, but I am not sure I have understood it properly. As I said earlier, there were problems and tension over the last two years. The minister decided it was time to move past those problems and to shut down the organization as an efficiency and cost-savin

Finance committee  In Montreal, there were 41.

Finance committee  There are several regional offices. I do not have the exact figure, but it should not be more than about 50.

Finance committee  The investigation raised some issues.

Finance committee  I am not sure I have enough time to do that. Essentially, there was a conflict between the board of directors and the former president of Rights and Democracy, Rémy Beauregard. That conflict related to certain directions taken and to management principles, in particular the way

Finance committee  It was about two years ago. So it was a little before I was assigned to this. I do not have the exact dates.

Finance committee  There will not be, for now. However, we have been asked to prepare options and submit them to the minister.