Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. That's my point. For example, if there isn't clarity and general guidance on what sorts of things a company can do to ensure that they've done their diligence, then it's a problem. I don't think it's enough for the government to say that if you do thus and so, you run afoul of Canadian sanctions.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it's a matter of bureaucracy. Without direction from the government, bureaucrats are very reluctant to give what could be described as legal opinions. They have a certain reticence to go too far when they answer specific questions from private companies. I think the solution isn't difficult: We could put forward a much more proactive approach on the part of bureaucrats or public servants if there were directives sent by the ministers responsible.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely, we have a system in place. The legislation you're looking at is our sanctions regime. Our sanctions policy, including our export controls policy, is pretty sound. It's consistent with what our allies are doing. What we need to do a better job of is providing clarification, in my view—clarification from government on some of the elements of sanctions that may not be clearly understood by the general public and by the business community.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. I think it's a question of coordinating with our allies and, frankly, the United States is the critical ally when it comes to sanctions.

Foreign Affairs committee  Again, I think transparency and policy guidance are important. I think the government is doing a pretty good job in many respects, but I come back to the major point I'm making. I think a better job could be done in providing guidance to the business community, the stakeholders, the people who are directly involved in sanctions internationally.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, Ms. McPherson, again, you've raised a number of issues. Look, the government is doing a reasonable job in attempting to coordinate the application of sanctions. It's not perfect, but I think there's a sensitivity within government to the need for a more comprehensive approach.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Bergeron, those are complex questions that I would be hard-pressed to answer in a few minutes. First of all, imposing sanctions to freeze assets, whether real or financial, is one thing, but using those assets to compensate others is another. That's the hard part. In my opinion, we need to coordinate with our allies because Canada can't jump ahead of what its allies have agreed to.

Foreign Affairs committee  I certainly do agree. I think to some extent it's a question of resources, but within the existing resources in the department, much more could be done to do the same kinds of things that, as you mentioned, Mr. Chong, are done by the CRA. I should also say that the Canada Border Services Agency, in terms of enforcing customs laws and regulations, provides detailed guidance.

Foreign Affairs committee  Certainly, Global Affairs could do much more to approximate the same sorts of things done by the Canada Border Services Agency or Finance Canada in terms of some policy guidance. I have to emphasize that these are matters of Canada's interests in international business. If the business community has problems in finding its way through these very tricky sanctions issues, it behooves the government to provide some policy guidance, as the U.S. administration, the British administration and the Australian government do.

Foreign Affairs committee  You know, Mr. Chong, ultimately it comes down to money and resources. I think the CBSA does a very good job within their existing resources of trying to look at, examine, interdict and capture goods coming into the country, but hundreds of thousands of containers land in Vancouver.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'm very pleased to be with you today to comment on the study you are conducting. First of all, Mr. Chairman, I want to say that it's a pleasure to be appearing before you. Members may not know this, but before Chairman Ehsassi entered the world of politics, he was a well-known trade lawyer himself.