NDVA Committee Meeting

37th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION

Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs

EVIDENCE

CONTENTS

Thursday, May 15, 2003

¿

0915

The Chair (Mr. David Pratt (Nepean—Carleton, Lib.))

¿

0920

Mrs. Elsie Wayne (Saint John, PC)

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Canadian Alliance)

Mr. Claude Bachand (Saint-Jean, BQ)

¿

0925

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Kyrgyz Republic)

Mr. Claude Bachand

Mr. David Price (Compton—Stanstead, Lib.)

Mr. Bob Wood (Nipissing, Lib.)

Mr. Joe McGuire (Egmont, Lib.)

¿

0930

Mr. Robert Bertrand (Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, Lib.)

Mr. Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour—Petitcodiac, Lib.)

The Chair

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

¿

0935

¿

0940

¿

0945

¿

0950

¿

0955

The Chair

À

1000

Mrs. Elsie Wayne

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

À

1005

Mrs. Elsie Wayne

The Chair

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant

À

1010

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant

À

1015

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

Mr. David Price

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

À

1020

Mr. David Price

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

Mr. David Price

À

1025

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

Mr. Bob Wood

The Chair

Mr. Bob Wood

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

À

1030

Mr. Bob Wood

À

1035

The Chair

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

À

1040

Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev

The Chair

Mr. Dominic LeBlanc

The Chair

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant

À

1045

The Chair

Mrs. Cheryl Gallant

The Chair

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CANADA

Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs

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NUMBER 027

l

2nd SESSION

l

37th PARLIAMENT

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EVIDENCE

Thursday, May 15, 2003

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

¿  (0915)  

[English]

    The Chair (Mr. David Pratt (Nepean—Carleton, Lib.)): I'd like to call this meeting of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs to order.

    On behalf of the committee, it is my pleasure to welcome this morning the Honourable Abdygany Erkebaev and his delegation to the committee. We're very pleased to see you here this morning.

    I'd like to perhaps explain a little bit about what our committee does, and then perhaps, Mr. Erkebaev, you could talk to us about the purpose of your delegation and pose any questions you might have for us today.

    We do have an item of business to deal with at the end of this meeting, and I certainly hope we'll have time to deal with that.

    We'll give some time to the Russian interpreter to catch up with those comments for Mr. Erkebaev.

    Let me begin by issuing a warm greeting to you: Dobroye utro.

    Let me explain the structure of our committee. We have members of the opposition and members of the government on this committee. The committee consists of 16 members. All of the parties in the House of Commons are represented on this committee.

    Our function could generally be described as three-faceted or having three parts: we review legislation; we review the estimates of the department, which are the departmental expenditures; and we also conduct special studies and make recommendations to the government on particular issues.

    Mr. Erkebaev, what I would like to do now is perhaps have the members of the committee introduce themselves more formally, telling you which part of Canada they're from. And perhaps you could also introduce your delegation to the members of the committee.

    Why don't we start with the opposition.

¿  (0920)  

    Mrs. Elsie Wayne (Saint John, PC): I'm Elsie Wayne, member of Parliament for Saint John, New Brunswick, in the eastern part of Canada. I'm the deputy leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.

    In Saint John we have the international university, with students from all over the world--and perhaps some of your students, though I'm not sure. We are Canada's first city incorporated by royal charter.

    Thank you.

    Mrs. Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, Canadian Alliance): My name is Cheryl Gallant. I am the chief opposition critic for the Canadian Alliance for science, research and development, and I'm the member of Parliament for Renfrew--Nipissing--Pembroke, located approximately 100 miles west of Ottawa. It is home to Canada's super army base, CFB Petawawa. In my riding we also have the only research nuclear reactor, where we do materials science and the technology for our CANDU power reactors.

[Translation]

    Mr. Claude Bachand (Saint-Jean, BQ): Good day. I'll be speaking French.

¿  (0925)  

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Kyrgyz Republic)(Interpretation): Immediately, we felt that you represented the real French Canada, if only because of your appearance and the way you talk.

    Mr. Claude Bachand: I trust that's a compliment.

    My name is Claude Bachand. I represent the electoral district of Saint-Jean which is located 25 miles south of Montreal. I'm the Defence Critic for my party, the Bloc Québécois. My riding is home to a large Canadian Forces recruitment base. Regardless of where people enlist in the Canadian Forces, they must undergo ten weeks of training in Saint-Jean.

    I'm pleased to see you again. Speaker Milliken was kind enough to invite me to sit with you at lunch yesterday and I enjoyed talking with you. I hope your stay here is a pleasant one.

[English]

    Mr. David Price (Compton—Stanstead, Lib.): My name is David Price, and I'm a member of Parliament for the southern part of Quebec, right near the American border. I'm also the vice-chair of this committee and the chair of the NATO parliamentary assembly for Canada.

    Mr. Bob Wood (Nipissing, Lib.): Hi. I represent the riding of Nipissing. It's about three and a half hours north of Ottawa and it consists of the city of North Bay. We have a strong military contingent there; in fact, we have an underground complex for NORAD, equivalent to the Cheyenne Mountain complex in the United States.

    Mr. Joe McGuire (Egmont, Lib.): I'm a member of Parliament from the Atlantic coast of Canada, the most beautiful part of Canada. We used to have a military base, but Elsie Wayne's party closed it.

    Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

¿  (0930)  

[Translation]

    Mr. Robert Bertrand (Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, Lib.): Good day, Mr. Speaker. My name is Robert Bertrand and I represent the lovely riding of Pontiac--Gatineau--Labelle which is located just across the river. The hills you see off in the distance are located in my riding and I can assure you that there is no finer place in Canada for fishing enthusiasts.

[English]

    Mr. Dominic LeBlanc (Beauséjour—Petitcodiac, Lib.): Good morning, sir. I'm a member of Parliament from the province of New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada. I am also the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Defence. I'm very happy to have a chance to meet you this morning.

    The Chair: Perhaps, Mr. Erkebaev, I can introduce myself more fully.

    I have the special forces unit of the Canadian Forces in my riding and many high technology companies that are defence related. I represent a riding in the Ottawa or national capital area, very close to the Parliament Buildings.

    At this point, Mr. Erkebaev, perhaps you could talk to us about your delegation and its objectives, and perhaps provide us with introductions to its members.

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): Esteemed Mr. Pratt, esteemed colleagues, members of the House of Commons, in the first place I would like to express to all of you our gratitude for the fact that you agreed to meet us this morning, notwithstanding the fact, of which I'm aware, that you have your current business to take care of. I would like also to use this opportunity to express our apologies for the fact that we arrived a little bit late. As a matter of fact, our visit to Ottawa is coming to an end and the preparations took some time.

    We have in the east a proverb that says seven people don't wait for one person, but sometimes the opposite happens as well. In this connection I would like to express my gratitude for the patience you have shown.

    With your kind permission, I will start by introducing the members of my delegation and then I will explain the motives and reasons why we are visiting your country. As you probably noticed yourself, we are actually a small delegation. As a matter of fact, when we met the member of Parliament who is representing the IPU, he actually was really astonished that we were such a small delegation. The reason is simple. Geographically speaking, we are a small country and our population is small as well.

    When we look today at the territory of the former Soviet Union...at that time the Soviet Union was the largest country in the world, and now it actually is still the largest country in the world. As far as the area of our country is concerned, it is 195,000 square kilometres. Our population is a little bit in excess of five million people, and accordingly, our Parliament is also rather small, with 60 deputies in our House.

    The second reason we are such a small delegation is that we are actually a young and poor country, and therefore we can't afford to send large groups abroad.

¿  (0935)  

    Allow me to introduce the members of my delegation. The first is Mr. Baltabaev. He represents a southern district of our country. He is a professor of medical science whose specialty is cardiology.

    Mr. Sharapov is an outstanding representative of the business sector, though all those activities are part of the past for him. Once you become an MP, you are not allowed to occupy any position or have any activity that earns you a salary. Next we have Mr. Raimkulov, who in the past also was an outstanding representative of the agricultural business.

    Then I would like to introduce His Excellency, our ambassador, who is representing our interests in Washington and in Canada at the same time. Next to him is his assistant, Mr. Mukashev, the attaché of the embassy.

    And finally we have with us my personal assistant, Mr. Omurzakov, and our protocol officer, Mrs. Saginova. She somehow seems to be respecting eastern, oriental traditions; she is sitting just behind me.

    Now allow me to tell you and explain to you the reasons we came over to Canada. We are a small country. After the disappearance of the Soviet Union, we have, after deep studies and considerations, chosen the path of democracy and a market economy. This is contrary to some other countries that are still following the path of authoritarian systems and totalitarianism. Therefore, we look for examples of highly developed countries that have chosen this path and are democratic countries with a market economy. It is an honour, I am sure, for Canada--and actually good fortune for us--that you are a country like that.

    Also, I would like to stress the fact that from the first day of our independence your country has granted us its assistance, in the first place in the establishment of our market economy.

¿  (0940)  

We have been fortunate to receive assistance from some important countries, like the United States, Japan, and Germany, but their assistance was of a general nature, while it is Canada who granted us a more specific assistance, especially, as I said, in the field of market economy.

    Thanks to the assistance of Canada, we were able to successfully develop three projects. The first joint enterprise I would like to mention is Cameco-Kumtor. It is one of the largest joint enterprises extracting golden ore. When I say it is important today, I'm talking here on a global scale. I'm not telling you anything new, but the headquarters of that company are located in Saskatchewan.

    Then, thanks to the activities of other joint enterprises, we have seen geological surveys being undertaken and we have seen some oil deposits being opened up, although in the past nobody thought we had any oil deposits. The results of the geological surveys have shown to us that there are significant prospects in that we have significant oil deposits.

    So in these last years, Australia and the People's Republic of China are particularly interested in this situation and are eager to start developing those oil deposits, but it should still be said that the Canadians were the ones who discovered them.

    The second item I would like to outline is the fact that we are receiving assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency. At the same time, due to the fact that we are now present here at your meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs, I think the time has come to talk also about security.

    As we have based ourselves on principles of democracy, our country has tried to establish the closest contacts possible with the countries of western Europe and the United States, and this within the framework of NATO. We are participating actively in all the pro-NATO programs, and in particular the Partnership for Peace program.

¿  (0945)  

    After the events of September 11, our country has developed a firm position and is acting together with other countries in the framework of the Anti-Terrorist Coalition, especially in Afghanistan. Our country is very close to the borders of Afghanistan and has suffered invasions from terrorists. Therefore, as soon as the initiative of the peacekeeping forces and the Anti-Terrorist Coalition was underway on a large scale, we set our military base, next to our capital city, at the disposal of the coalition.

    As far as the war in Iraq is concerned, here our position is identical with the position of Canada. We considered that this particular crisis should be resolved exclusively by diplomatic and peaceful means, basing ourselves on the principles of the United Nations. Now that the main events are behind us, we are following exactly the same course as you.

    Generally speaking, we consider that, as far as Afghanistan, central Asia, and Iraq are concerned, we should always have a common position. This is why we are so interested in your peacekeeping activities and are particularly interested in the activity of your peacekeeping centre located in Nova Scotia, the Lester B. Pearson Peacekeeping Centre.

    As I mentioned before, we have already received some assistance from the United States, Germany, and Turkey. I would like to ask you to do whatever is possible to enable us to participate in the training programs at that centre so as to be proficient in the field of peacekeeping operations.

    In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to a specific question, which I haven't mentioned previously. I ask His Excellency, the ambassador, to take note of that. I took note, with interest, of the fact that practically everybody on the Canadian side around this table represents an electoral district located in close proximity to military bases or military facilities.

¿  (0950)  

    During the existence of the Soviet Union, our republic, our country, had important military industrial facilities. Our country is mountainous. I can tell you--this is not a secret any more--that starting after the Second World War we were extracting uranium in our country. After the disappearance of the Soviet Union, that particular industry fell apart, but we still have a very significant problem with uranium tailings.

    So in five or six cities of our country we are still in the presence of this left-over heritage, so to speak, of the Soviet Union. And I would like to tell you that this particular problem is actually a source of danger for the whole central Asian region, including Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. Two years ago our parliament actually sent an appeal to all the parliaments of the world and to global public opinion asking for assistance to enable us to resolve this problem.

    We would like to express here our gratitude for the fact that, since last year, there has been a reaction and we are receiving assistance, especially from the OSCE and from some other countries, except Canada. Just recently, in April of this year, we had an international seminar held in our country. It was decided at that seminar to organize an international conference with the aim of tackling that problem to eliminate it, taking into account the danger it represents, not only for central Asia, but also as a large-scale problem in general. And I express a hope here that Canada, as a highly developed country, and one considered to be among the cleanest, ecologically speaking, will participate in that conference.

    This is not a simple “standard” visit--as they say in French, “une visite de politesse”; actually, we have organized this visit with specific aims in view.

¿  (0955)  

    Thank you for your attention. If you have any questions for us, all the members of my delegation and myself are ready to answer them.

    The Chair: On behalf of the committee, Mr. Erkebaev, I'd like to thank you for your statement today. I would like to give members of the committee an opportunity to ask questions of you.

    Before doing so, however, I would like to just note the fact that Canada has been, obviously, very significantly involved in your homeland through the investments that Canadian companies have made. I think most of the members of the committee would probably have read the briefing material and understand as well that despite some economic hardship, your country has made progress in terms of its growth rate.

    On this subject, I also noted with great interest the fact that the gold mine Canadians have invested in is, I gather, one of the ten largest in the world. Canadian direct investment in your country totals 45% of the entire direct investment, which is obviously very significant.

    I also noted with great interest that the Kyrgyz Republic was the first of the Commonwealth of Independent States members to be granted admission to the WTO.

    I'm sure our committee members have many questions, so perhaps we can get right into those questions at this point. There is normally a specific amount of time members have to ask questions. Perhaps we could waive that today in the interests of ensuring that as many members as possible have an opportunity to put questions.

    Mrs. Wayne, do you have any questions?

À  (1000)  

    Mrs. Elsie Wayne: My question, Mr. Chair, is this. In your presentation, sir, you mentioned that when it came to the uranium situation, there was no help from Canada. Could you explain what role you would like Canada to play in getting that depleted uranium out of your country?

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): Thank you for asking a question that is of particular importance to us. As far as Canada is concerned, we have no information available telling us that this is the case. We received information from different channels, by correspondence, by e-mail, but we are not aware of any direct involvement on your side.

    The reason could also be that we didn't inform the Canadian side--or insufficiently informed them--about this situation. This explains why we're mentioning this today, here.

À  (1005)  

    Mrs. Elsie Wayne: Thank you very much. We will certainly follow through on that and have our government take a look at the situation.

    Thank you.

    The Chair: Mrs. Gallant.

    Mrs. Cheryl Gallant: First of all, on the military side of things, what strength is your military? How many soldiers do you have at present?

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): This is definitely not a secret. We are a small country and relatively underdeveloped. As far as numbers are concerned, we have 12,000 soldiers, no marine forces, because we have no access to the sea, and until recently the border guards were from Russia. But we have created our own forces here, and there are also 3,000 border guards in Kyrgyzstan.

    We are a peace-loving country, and it is clearly stated in our constitution that there should be no militaristic policy in the country; therefore, our armed forces have been established for self-defence purposes only.

    Mrs. Cheryl Gallant: Thank you.

    My next question involves your energy source. You mentioned that uranium had been mined up until the breakup of the Soviet Union.

    What is your current or major source of energy? Do you see your requirements being fulfilled by your present source of power? Are there still substantial uranium deposits in your country?

À  (1010)  

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): This also is a question of specific interest to us.

    I already mentioned the existence of oil and gas deposits. For the time being, whatever is being extracted is not sufficient to satisfy our own needs. We expect to be able to export oil and gas in the future.

    Not to mention oil and gas, Kyrgyzstan has a significant potential in the field of hydro energy. Even during the existence of the Soviet Union, our republic was occupying third place in importance in the field of production of hydro energy. As far as the production of hydro energy is concerned, we occupy third place after Russia and Tajikistan.

    Therefore, some countries are very interested in our sources of electrical energy. I would like to mention that the People's Republic of China, Afghanistan, and Pakistan would like to import electrical energy from our country, not to mention Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

    The problem we are facing is the following. The dams and hydro stations were built during the existence of the Soviet Union. At this stage, they are outdated from technical and many other points of view. Two large-scale projects envisaging the building of power dams during the Soviet Union have not been brought to fruition due to the lack of financial means.

    Taking into account the enormous experience you have in the construction of hydro power dams, I think there is an opportunity here for Canadian companies, and for companies who would be interested to look into such an opportunity. I am talking, in the first place, about private investors.

    I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we are coming to the end of our process of privatization--privatization also of strategically important facilities.

    The Chair: Do you have anything further, Cheryl?

    Mrs. Cheryl Gallant: It sounds as though your country has all the ingredients to be a very well-developed and wealthy country, with your movement towards democracy and your Parliament. It's a very bright future. I wish you all the best.

À  (1015)  

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): I would like to express to you my deep gratitude for your kind words.

    The Chair: Mr. Price.

    Mr. David Price: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

    I think, as Ms. Gallant said, that you definitely do have a bright future.

    To pick up on a couple of points, you mentioned that your armed forces has 12,000 people. It's an ideal situation because you don't have to deal with the problem that many other former Soviet Union countries have of too many soldiers and what to do with them.

    You mentioned that they're specifically for self-defence, but you also mentioned that you are involved in Partners for Peace, as far as doing Petersburg tasks. This is excellent training if, somewhere down the road, you're looking for entry into NATO. There are things involved, though.

    I didn't really notice how your military is controlled at this point. Is the military civilian-controlled or is it, like many of the former Soviet states, controlled by the military itself?

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): I would like to thank you for your detailed question. Indeed, we have a small armed forces, a compact armed forces, technically. We're not exactly satisfied with what they have at their disposal. We haven't the means necessary for that. But at the same time, we rely upon the assistance of NATO countries.

    The professional level of training is not very high either. So I have a request for you immediately: could you assist us in the training of our military personnel?

    As far as control is concerned, being a peace-loving country with democratic orientations, we are not losing sight of the importance of that particular question. So it is Parliament that controls the situation.

    It is indeed the President who is the leader of our armed forces. At the same time, as far as military activities are concerned, this is under the control of Parliament.

À  (1020)  

    Mr. David Price: Thank you very much.

    With that coming under control of Parliament, do you have a defence committee similar to what we have that does actually control policy for your defence?

    Just in passing, too, I think it's a big advantage that you do have a small military, because you're in a rebuilding stage, and that's an excellent way to go. You can start from scratch, and you can build them the way you want. You're already starting by working with Partners For Peace. There's a certain amount of training that goes on there in itself.

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): Indeed we are receiving some training for our officer staff, and so on, and this training is granted in Germany, in the United States, and in Turkey, but it would be nice if Canada could participate as well.

    As far as Parliament is concerned, we have indeed a committee similar to yours. It is headed at this stage by the former Chief of Staff and Minister of Defence, but he is not fulfilling those functions any more, because the moment you become deputy, you have to abandon any other functions.

    Mr. David Price: Just as a closing statement, you're absolutely right; in Canada, we should be helping you out as much as we can because of the position your country sits in right now. You're in an extremely strategic part of the world, and a part of the world that has changed very much in the last couple of years. Having a democratic country there, with what you've told us in your background, I think it's very, very important that we all help as much as we can to make sure we strengthen that democracy.

    So thank you very much for dropping by.

    The other thing is, I have to admit--as well as, I'm sure, most of us around--that I didn't know that much about your country.

À  (1025)  

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): Thank you.

    The Chair: Mr. Wood.

    Mr. Bob Wood: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

    I have just one question. Going over some of the briefing notes, I noticed that in the last couple of years your country has gone through a fair amount of political uncertainty. I'd just like an update on that and about the February referendum that was held to ensure a better balance of power.

    The Chair: And also the legislature.

    Mr. Bob Wood: Yes, between the legislature and the president.

    Also, I'd like to know, has this not hindered your devolvement as a democratic country?

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): Thank you for such a frank question. Indeed, our country was among the leaders--I would even say the leader--in the field of the introduction of market economy and democracy, and we were able to follow that road thanks to our own efforts, in the first place, but also thanks to the assistance of the international community, and Canada in particular. But as you know, the development of any country is influenced by many factors, many events, and sometimes factors and events that influence your country from outside.

    As you noticed yourself, we are not exactly in the most, let's say, quiet and peaceful environment. Islamic fundamentalism and terrorist activities have manifested themselves very close to our country, and have actually also influenced the situation in our country itself, and we have suffered from that for a period of two years. Here, I would like to point out the presence of such countries as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

    It should also be mentioned that neighbouring countries have different regimes, authoritarian regimes, and here I would like to mention Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and to a certain degree Kazakhstan. There is no doubt that they influence to a certain degree the internal situation of our country.

    It should also be mentioned that our national resources are not as rich as the natural resources of Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan.

    A democratic regime also requires that the powers at the helm should be renewed on a regular basis. When the leadership is at the helm for too long a period, this certainly has a slowing-down effect on the processes of development.

    It is as a result of those factors, which have influenced us for the last two years, that we were criticized as slowing down our process of development.

    So our people finally started to like democracy, were on the side of democracy, and therefore were in favour of following the paths of reform and renewal.

À  (1030)  

    From time to time we are witnessing some democratic protests, conflicts. This is one of the reasons why we have decided to amend our constitution so as to limit the powers of the President. Before that we had a super-presidential republic under the influence of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and other neighbouring countries. This explains why public opinion and the parliament were very much in favour of introducing reforms here. One should certainly grant the President and the parliament and the people of our country their due for the fact that they were in favour of the implementation of such reforms--reforms that established a presidential parliamentary system and that enabled us to achieve a balance of powers. Any appointments of political significance can only be approved by parliament. I think this is a reasonable compromise and consensus.

    Mr. Bob Wood: Thank you very much, Mr. Erkebaev. I, in turn, appreciate your frank answers.

À  (1035)  

    The Chair: Mr. Erkebaev, I have a number of very brief questions.

    The first question is this. Is it likely that President Akayev will run for a fourth term?

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): President Akayev and myself have been working together since 1990. We have been working together for such a long period, but if I consider it specifically, if he runs once more, I don't think this would be the best of approaches.

    The Chair: Thank you.

    I'd like to know if there are any border issues with the neighbouring countries--China, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): As far as border problems are concerned, we have resolved any border problems we had with the People's Republic of China. With Russia we have no problems whatsoever. But we have border problems with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and they are rather complex. I'd like to use this opportunity to offer an appeal to you that you do not lose sight of that particular problem.

    The Chair: My final question is whether or not you have any air force within the armed forces of the republic. If you do, what capabilities...?

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): I'm sorry to say that what we inherited is not worth mentioning. It's sheer misery. All we inherited were four aircraft and ten helicopters, completely outdated. We had also some anti-aircraft missiles. Basically speaking, our position is a very weak one, but thank God for the collective security agreement in the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Through that collective security agreement, our protection is assured from the point of view of air attacks.

    The Chair: Mr. Erkebaev, on behalf of the committee, I would like to thank you very much. Thank you and your delegation for being here today.

    I think we have certainly benefited from your comments today in terms of the information we've been able to obtain on your republic.

    I would agree with some comments that have been made that as a country that does have natural resources in terms of gold and oil, your economic future certainly appears to be promising, if you are able to obtain the necessary foreign investment.

    Still, as indicated by your comments, there are many challenges that face your country. I think I speak on behalf of all of the members of the committee when I say that we wish you well in addressing those challenges in the future.

    All of us on this committee have been members of delegations before, so we know that it can be very tiring work, as well as interesting. We know that your delegation's work is coming to a close. We hope you have had very fruitful meetings. We wish you a safe trip home.

À  (1040)  

    Hon. Abdygany Erkebaev (Interpretation): Esteemed Mr. Pratt and esteemed colleagues, in the name of my delegation and myself, I would like to express to you my gratitude, especially for that particular, I would call it, hot interest you have shown for our delegation and my country.

    The Chair: Perhaps I would ask committee members to hold on for just a couple of minutes while we say goodbye to the delegation.

    Members of the committee, we have a few very quick items to deal with. I've been advised by Mr. Benoit that he'll not be pursuing the motions he gave notice on within the last couple of days. We'll look at those perhaps at the next meeting or whenever we're given notice that he would like to deal with those issues.

    Mr. Dominic LeBlanc: Mr. Chairman, this is a procedural question. On that, does his notice stand also for the next meeting, or does he have to give another 48 hours' notice? What are the rules with respect to when...?

    The Chair: He's given the notice at this point, so I think the issue can be revisited. Certainly as chair--and maybe you could pass this on, Cheryl--I'd like to know if he wants to deal with it at the next meeting or the following meeting or the one after that or whenever. Perhaps you could just let him know. I presume we could probably expect to deal with it at the next meeting. If he has any other plans, maybe he could let us know.

    Mrs. Cheryl Gallant: They're running out of time with the Bloc motion and him having to speak.

À  (1045)  

    The Chair: Right. I understand that.

    The other issue we have to deal with is the matter of the reference of Bill C-35, an act to amend the National Defence Act (remuneration of military judges). It never rains but it pours around here in terms of legislation.

    I would suggest that we ask the clerk to look at the best timing for the disposal of this legislation--the consideration of this legislation--and get back to us with an appropriate time in terms of.... I don't know if the minister is going to be coming before the committee on that particular legislation, but we can make the necessary arrangements to have the officials here.

    Based on the hearing schedule we have in terms of our Canada-U.S. study, we may have to schedule a special meeting for this. We'll see how things unfold and what the timing is with respect to consideration of this subsequently in the House as well. If the House has lots of legislation before it and doesn't need this legislation right away, perhaps we could take our time with it.

    Mrs. Cheryl Gallant: I'd just like to thank the research staff for the briefing notes in preparation for today. They were thorough and highly impressive, very helpful. Thank you.

    The Chair: Extremely helpful.

    If there are no further items, the meeting is adjourned.