Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to talk about the role of parliamentarians in the extractive industries. I am the president and CEO of the Parliamentary Centre, which is a Canadian organization that has existed for 40 years. We have worked in 45 legislatures around the world and have conducted more than 85 projects to support parliamentary strengthening around the world.

Foreign Affairs committee  That is a very good question. We have partnered with three British organizations: the Oxford Policy Management group, the Adam Smith Institute, and GRM International. These are private companies that work for profit. We have partnered also with ARD in the United States, which is owned by Tetra Tech, which is one of the largest corporations in the United States.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't know if I'll be able to respond comprehensively to your question, but I want to give an example of why parliaments are important. I was recently in Rwanda at a conference organized by the World Bank for parliamentarians. It was on development. The whole question was the role of the private sector.

Foreign Affairs committee  I was expecting that this question would be raised. I would say that you cannot separate that. In other words, when you are developing a democratic culture, you're also developing a relationship of trust between the different stakeholders. I believe that if there is no prosperity, it is very difficult to have a harmonious situation with everyone.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. The first point I think is that one has to be very clear about the fact that mining companies operating in foreign countries are under the jurisdiction of the countries where they operate. So if there is no oversight in those countries, you have potential bad consequences, as we have mentioned in our report—in certain countries.

Foreign Affairs committee  Actually, bilateral aid to government is very generous. What I'm trying to say is that it's not as generous in supporting parliamentary work. We are the biggest beneficiaries of bilateral assistance from CIDA. It's $15 million over five years, when we can spend $250 million or $280 million in one year for elections only.

Foreign Affairs committee  The latest figures I've seen are that basically we spend hundreds of millions of dollars in elections, but very often after the elections there's nothing. My point is that we have to do election monitoring, election support, but then those who are elected should have tools. What's the point of electing people if we're going to leave them out to dry?

Foreign Affairs committee  Don't worry, Madam. I deal a lot with parliamentarians around the world, so it's no problem. You are absolutely right, we cannot look at things in isolation. This is why you will hear me talk about governance as number one. I don't talk about parliamentary strengthening in a vacuum; I put it within the context of governance.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Ms. Laverdière. Let me reassure you. We are doing exactly what you just mentioned. We explain things to parliamentarians and we help them to interact with civil society, and vice versa. The clearest and most recent example we have is the score card system we developed for parliamentarians in Kenya.

Foreign Affairs committee  I would like to say thank you. Merci beaucoup. This is a very good opportunity for us to exchange with you and to learn about your worries, and for us to know what we can do to help Canada improve its visibility and meaningfulness in the international scene