Foreign Affairs committee  You asked a simple question; there's no simple answer. I have to say that fundamentally it's an Afghan question. I'm heavily influenced by Robert Fisk, whose point of view is somewhat akin to that of the former Russian military man who wrote in the Globe and Mail last week that if you replace “U.S.S.R.” with “Canada” or “U.S.” or “U.K.”, history repeats itself.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry, you're speaking in terms of the history of the North-South Institute? Is that what you're addressing?

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, and they're extremely diverse because the sources of our funding are extremely diverse. The current project on the international economic architecture is addressing issues of southern voices for reform. So what we're trying to do and what we were funded to do is to increase the presence of voices from developing countries themselves towards the reform of international financial institutions.

Foreign Affairs committee  We do that, but as you indicate with your use of the word “cursory”, it's often quite limited because of the stringencies of support.

Foreign Affairs committee  I guess that was directed at both of us. I can clarify a couple of things. First, I would tend to share the opinion of those who are conservative about democracy export, if you like, as a foreign policy priority, because that's not what I'm arguing. My basic assumption is that if one wants to encourage democratic development, then one basically seeks to sow seeds at the ground level.

Foreign Affairs committee  I wouldn't claim a great deal of expertise on this. I think it is important that both the failures--and I'd cite, for instance, the extremely tense situation in East Timor, which was in a sense a demonstration case in some ways for a UN-administered transition--and relative successes, of which I would actually cite Mozambique, in which Canadian aid has played a role and Canadian NGOs have been very engaged....

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm thinking of a couple of examples. I cannot speak to Haiti, but I'm thinking of the current situation in Bosnia. It's extremely complex there, because you have two sub-national parliaments and a national one. It was ground-up. It was: Have a parliamentary committee. What does the parliamentary committee do?

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the committee for inviting the North-South Institute to engage in this discussion regarding democracy. The institute, as you probably know, is the only independent research institute in Canada devoted to international development. I'd like to focus on three of the questions that you put forward: the role of non-governmental organizations, the question of where is the need for support, and some approaches that Canada might consider.