Foreign Affairs committee  May I consider that question and perhaps submit something in writing to you?

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that has to be avoided. It's a very important question. What was effective in the relationship between Secretary Shultz and me in fact was the structure that had been put in place, and to give credit where it is due, I inherited the structure. It was put in place by Secretary Shultz and Allan MacEachen when he was minister, but we both made it work.

Foreign Affairs committee  I wouldn't, because I think the CIDA mandate would become lost in Foreign Affairs. Having said that, I think there needs to be a very serious consideration of what the contemporaries see the mandate to be. I don't think that has begun anywhere. I wouldn't merge them, because my belief, not yet proven, which requires consideration, is that there is a contemporary role for CIDA in this world, but we haven't defined it.

Foreign Affairs committee  If I were still a parliamentarian and engaged in partisan debate, I'd be tempted to say that I don't think they would have drawn that impression until you entered the idea into the record of Hansard.

Foreign Affairs committee  Nonetheless, on the Americas, I think one of the really fortunate things that happened is that the current government established its Americas policy before the election of a new president, because it's not going to look like a Johnny-come-lately initiative. I think now the challenge--and it's being acted on in part by the changes in aid allocations--is to make real use of that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Do you want to go ahead, Mr. LeBlanc?

Foreign Affairs committee  We have extraordinarily strong relations of various kinds with those major emerging countries. Take India, for example. Not only do we have a substantial population in Canada of people of Indian origin that maintains very close connections, but we also are members of the Commonwealth.

Foreign Affairs committee  There is absolutely no doubt that technology has transformed the effectiveness and the capacity of governments and non-governmental organizations, and that's something of which account has to be taken. It raises very real questions about traditional approaches to diplomacy and to development.

Foreign Affairs committee  Here's an observation. I think one consequence of the Obama election, on environmental issues, is that the inclination to sort of set the developed world off against the developing world is over. I think we've passed that phase. I don't think it's something in his mindset. And given the immense influence the Americans have on this file, because they were regarded as being recalcitrant before, I think we could have a more productive debate about moving forward together.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'd separate the two. Winning seats on the Security Council is tougher than the constituencies most of us have run into, and odd factors apply. On initiatives, the importance of initiatives from Canada's perspective is that we do have credentials that other countries don't have, but we can't be taking those initiatives for Canadian reasons.

Foreign Affairs committee  With respect, I don't think we disagree at all. I strongly support the military activities of Canada in Afghanistan. I even support in general terms the increase in the defence budget. I wish it had been debated. I wish there had been a broad discussion of priorities at the time, and I hope you might be able to do that now in the committee.

Foreign Affairs committee  Canada has reduced its presence in Africa, and I regret that approach. However, we haven't lost our reputation. It can be regained or reinforced. I didn't say that expenditures were being allocated to defence to the detriment of development. I can understand why priority is being given to defence, not to development and diplomacy.

Foreign Affairs committee  First of all, on the North American issue, I think we should emphasize a trilateral arrangement. I think the Canada-U.S. arrangement is very important and requires a lot of our attention. A lot of our challenge has to be to keep getting their attention. I don't think that would benefit from hiving off Mexico.

Foreign Affairs committee  I have two comments on that. One, people are leaving not because there aren't things to do but because their budgets are going down. People don't stay in organizations the masters of which don't evidence much interest in them. And unfortunately that is the case here. I believe that if there is more attention and a greater role given to Foreign Affairs and to CIDA, that will change.

Foreign Affairs committee  One thing is interesting with regard to the Obama administration. In her first speech as Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton emphasized the importance of development on the one hand and diplomacy on the other. Of course, the United States, like Canada, will continue to play a military role and a traditional security role.