Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, it's part of a process of politicization of the judiciary, as I was mentioning in regard to your other question, and I think political loyalties weigh more in the balance than professionalism does. Therefore, you begin to see senior judges who may have risen because of thei

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can't say 100%, sir, if we undertook a formal démarche, but we certainly would have expressed our views in Caracas through our ambassador. As I mentioned, we also have very limited access, so we can make public comment, but we continue to have difficulties engaging with senior

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Understood.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We will undertake to review these, obviously, with the Government of Venezuela, but also in the context of the Human Rights Council itself. Our concern continues to be, as you mentioned, sir, the restrictions on press, the harassment of journalists, and situations like that, whic

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  On the consular side, of course, we provide consular services. Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009 over the Israeli military action against Hamas in the Gaza strip. After that, Israel asked Canada to represent their interests in Venezuela, which are chiefly consul

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think the record is still mixed. One point I do recall is that there was an effort at one time to restrict international funding to those NGOs. I believe they have now backed off after international pressures from Canada and others who raised concerns. It was a pattern we wer

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I mentioned earlier in response to the other question, I think that these are two governments that are very isolated from the rest of the world. They lack support and partners. These are people who are operating on the margins of international relations and who are looking for

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I can't comment on that, but I saw the same press report. We can't confirm something like that, but it is true there have been reports on the subject.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This actually has to do with the safety and security of citizens in the streets. There's a lot of violent crime, murders and flash kidnappings. People are actually being kidnapped and their families are asked for ransoms. Many people are affected by this serious phenomenon in Ven

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We think that the government hasn't done enough to improve security. I travel a great deal in the region and I've noted that the security of citizens is a priority for all governments in the region of Central America and the Caribbean. I don't understand why, but I think that the

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I understand your question. Our policy for supporting security is focused on Central America and the Caribbean right now. Our anti-crime programs target Central America and the Caribbean. We haven't really broached the subject with Venezuela because that country can afford to e

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'd prefer to verify that before I comment formally, but one could argue, I'm sure, sir, that that has been a factor. If you start that kind of major reorganization, as we've seen in a number of ministries, they become less efficient at doing their jobs, and you're seeing people

International Trade committee  Maybe I'll just add a couple of points in terms of opportunities in Panama. You're quite right, sir, that the current level of trade is small, but again, as you said, this a very dynamic economy and one for which the projected growth levels are significant going forward. As a s

International Trade committee  Yes, indeed. I think our ambassador to Panama would probably tell you that the subcontracting opportunity is key for us. Those consortia are pretty big even by Canadian standards. What we're looking for is opportunities to subcontract within entities that are making and obtaining

International Trade committee  I think you can look at Panama across the board and see they are positioning themselves almost like a Latin American Singapore. It's an entrepôt trade. It's trade in goods and services. They are a transportation hub; their airline now has four flights a week to Toronto and they w