Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. What I was going to answer for you is that I think the development of expertise in the areas of climate change and digital technology that were identified in that report speak to the need for GAC to be able to lead but also to convene. I think these will have to be cross-departmental expertise hubs going forward.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think we need more investment, as the report indicates. We need more of a multilateral presence at the tables that matter. Of course, choices have to be made about where to engage most heavily. As I intimated, we need to be very alert to the new institutional forums that are starting to pop up and that, frankly, we also see the U.S. being very interested in.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Let me try to answer very briefly. [Technical difficulty—Editor]

Foreign Affairs committee  I'd largely agree that it is much more important for us to be on the ground making a difference than relying on rhetoric and being concerned about our place in the world. Sometimes I like to say that we've made it too much about us: Are we part of this club? Are we being neglected?

Foreign Affairs committee  It should certainly take no more than a year. With a very rigorous process that's carefully facilitated with good analysis, it need not take more than a year.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't think it should be led externally, in an ideal world. It should come from government with perhaps external involvement, though in an advisory function. It's less than ideal to parachute someone in.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks so much for the question. As you can imagine, I've given this a lot of thought. I can also understand the concern of some about the enormous investment of time required to do a systematic foreign policy review, and I've heard our ambassadors and civil servants say we need to move beyond talking about foreign policy and actually do something about it, and this would just mire us in another internal exercise.

Foreign Affairs committee  I wouldn't create a number of regional strategies.

Foreign Affairs committee  I just don't think that is a productive way. I would provide an overarching framework within which you would refer to the Indo-Pacific strategy.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, but I do appreciate that this is a very live debate, and I think we have to take great care in how we pursue it. I just want to make one quick comment to you as well. As you'll remember, the 2005 effort was defence diplomacy and development together, and I question whether that is the right approach this time.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I'm happy to begin the discussion. I have two sets of comments in reply. The first is that I think there's a dangerous tendency to believe that the current environment we are in favours hard power almost exclusively as opposed to soft power, and I don't completely agree with that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I want to be completely open and say that this is not a part of Global Affairs I know as well. I think you are absolutely right to begin by applauding those on the ground. What I will say in response is that there was a tendency, in the 1990s and 2000s, to think of crises as things that happen periodically.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. I would like to echo the theme of Professor Chapnick. It is critical, in the current environment that Canada is in, and that Canadians are living in, that we don't make our foreign policy just an extension of domestic politics. The situation is far too serious for that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to come and discuss with the committee the current state of Canada's diplomatic capacity and its future in an increasingly unstable world. I'd like to begin by agreeing with the opening paragraph of the “Future of Diplomacy” initiative report that suggests Canada must invest more in its diplomatic service and activities given our current global context and that we cannot continue to rest on our laurels.