Foreign Affairs committee  I fully agree with what the other witnesses said, that increasing the budget for the foreign service would be good. However, let me speak for my own bailiwick just for a second and recommend that if foreign affairs had a certain budget, it could do what the Department of National Defence has been doing for 50 years, which is giving awards and supporting academic research outside the department.

Foreign Affairs committee  First, good evening, Mr. Bergeron. It's good to see you again, too. As for whether thinking about defence before thinking about foreign affairs is putting the cart before the horse, in fact, I'd say the one influences the other. While it's true that defence policy is generally expected to flow from, or conform to, foreign policy, I would also respond that, in Canada's history, the two may have operated in a decoupled fashion, or that there has rarely been much effort to make them coherent.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me today. It's always a great privilege to be able to address the elected representatives of the House of Commons. In the coming years, Canada will face major structural challenges. Climate change has already been mentioned.