Foreign Affairs committee  We do get a grant from the Department of National Defence. We've been in existence for 75 years—

Foreign Affairs committee  —and we've been receiving grants, so it's not a question of pointing a finger at this government.

Foreign Affairs committee  The money we got from NATO is $5,000 to run our annual seminar next week—

Foreign Affairs committee  —and that has nothing to do.... So you're putting aspersions on the character of the CDA, which is—

Foreign Affairs committee  We were invited by the chair.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, can I address that?

Foreign Affairs committee  What is important to understand—and this touches somewhat on what Dr. Martin was asking—is the aspects of our mission that we should change. I believe we have to understand what the mission currently consists in. It has changed a great deal in the past year. I was in Afghanistan

Foreign Affairs committee  General Hillier gave the government his military opinion, and it was the government of the time that made the decision, just as the current government or Parliament will decide whether or not to extend the mission. All General Hillier does is provide a military opinion. That's hi

Foreign Affairs committee  Since we don't have much time, I'll leave it to Colonel MacDonald, because he's done all the research on the report.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. If I could quickly make a comment—and I've worked with Ernie Regehr and I have a lot of respect for him—I don't have any disagreement where that is possible in Afghanistan, and I think that has happened. What we have to remember is that the ISAF got involved startin

Foreign Affairs committee  That's a very interesting question. I would suggest that you invite Colonel Capstick, who was the first commanding officer of that mission in Kabul and who is back in Canada, or Colonel Dixon, who's there now. On the background to that, there was a request from President Karzai

Foreign Affairs committee  My colleague may also want to add a few words. There's no doubt that there's a very great difference between the intervention of the Soviet Union in 1979 and the presence not only of NATO but of 70 countries that are participating in the reconstruction of the country. A mandate

Foreign Affairs committee  Close to 80% of the population supports the presence of the coalition. You're saying that's not the case, but the figures prove it.

Foreign Affairs committee  Col. MacDonald can tell you about the figures that were drawn from the surveys. Some credible polls, for example that of the BBC and the Asia Foundation, indicated that before Christmas there was support to the tune of 80%. You can't compare the two because the Soviet presence, w

Foreign Affairs committee  If we look at the polls, the support of the Canadian public is quite stable, at about 50%. It varies a little, but overall, 50% of the population supports the mission. With regard to Quebec, I do agree with you, it's a bit less. It will be interesting to see what happens when my