Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's always a pleasure to be back in front of the committee. I see my original strategy of speaking for 55 minutes and leaving five minutes for questioning is not going to fly. So I'll try, as every witness has endeavoured, to keep my remarks br

Foreign Affairs committee  I love questions that are phrased that way. I can't.... Do you answer yes or do you answer no?

Foreign Affairs committee  Okay, great.

Foreign Affairs committee  Very quickly, then, the evidence on the ground, which comes from the group of development agencies that are working on this—it's not a matter of belief, it's a matter of fact—has to do with the efficiency gains that come from working with the private sector. Look at the amount of

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not a question and never has been a question of looking to the taxpayers for handouts. If you remember my example, when I partnered and was on the ground and was doing this—so I'm speaking from real experience—I can tell you it was actually the private sector that was subsid

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. First let me note that I agree that putting CIDA out of business is a great goal. There are many development organizations that have as their motto “Putting ourselves out of business”. I do think, though, that the opposition is deeply concerned about poverty alleviation,

Foreign Affairs committee  I had given up hope.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. There's been a proposal presented by Hernando de Soto's think tank in Haiti, Centre pour la Libre Entreprise et la Démocratie. It was developed several years ago with USAID funding to develop the proposal. USAID hasn't been able to continue with it for a variety of reasons

Foreign Affairs committee  It depends on the diaspora group. If you look at diasporas, the characteristics differ by country of origin and they also differ by country and place of settlement. So the huge difference is, for example, in the Haitian diaspora in Brooklyn and the Haitian diaspora in Miami in te

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. The best example is actually with the Haitian diaspora. CIDA has the longest-running contribution agreement of any development agency with the diaspora group Regroupement des organismes canado-haïtiens pour le développement--ROCAHD. When I was working the Haiti beat and th

Foreign Affairs committee  The remittance corridor studies that Finance Canada did through or in partnership with the World Bank looked at those issues to some degree. Alan Simmons at York University did a very brief bit and I did a survey of recipients in Jamaica and that gives some ideas on ways to look

Foreign Affairs committee  At one point in time I did—

Foreign Affairs committee  —and I can pass it on.

Foreign Affairs committee  They're hugely important. You hear of people who live in countries where the labour market does not perform. It does not offer a decent return on investment. Allowing people to move has significant impacts on poverty alleviation. The Canadian program, while not perfect, is bette

Foreign Affairs committee  You have a great example. The Trade Facilitation Office of Canada did some work with the Jeune Chambre de Commerce Haïtienne de Montréal. You have groups in Canada that have expertise and experience. It doesn't cost a lot, but the return on investment is huge.