Foreign Affairs committee  I agree with you. Some countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are the reservoirs of current and future French speakers. Does Canada know this? I believe so. However, Canada too often lets France take the lead. I saw this a long time ago when I took part in a number of francophonie meetings, including the meetings on preparing the Bamako declaration.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I worked on China. I went to Beijing a few years ago to conduct research on this issue. According to diplomats and researchers, China is actually quite different from Russia. Right now, Russia is certainly trying to disrupt democracy, freedom and security.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are certainly both economic and strategic objectives underlying these new silk roads. These new silk roads are accompanied by the construction of naval bases, in particular in Djibouti and Walvis Bay in Namibia. There's also a technological aspect to them. That said, we can't say that the aim is to transform African regimes to mirror the Chinese model.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I was talking earlier about the capability‑expectations gap. This means that Canada isn't investing the necessary resources. I'm not an expert on Canada's policy. However, if we go back 20 years, clearly its policy of concentration has led it to abandon many countries. As my colleague said earlier, Canada isn't investing in security issues in Africa.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about a topic as important as relations between Canada and Africa. Since I'm not an expert on Canadian foreign or African policy, I would like to begin by raising four points that I believe are crucial in order to better understand the context of Canada's engagement in Africa.