Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird: United Arab Emirates

Humanitarian Crisis Dept: Entering question period on Thursday, Baird told reporters that the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Syria and security concerns with Iran were topping his agenda for the trip, which starts in Jordan but moves on to short stops in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain in its early days, according to CBC. The longest leg of the trip will focus on meetings in Israel and the West Bank with leaders on both sides of the newly-resurrected peace process and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will spend nearly all of Parliament's two-week Easter break in the Middle East, leaving tonight on a tour that will see him confronting a full range of difficult files: from Canada's funding to assist the Palestinian Authority to the resettlement of Syrian refugees. From there, it's on to Cyprus where he'll meet with the financially-troubled country 's foreign minister and participate in a memorial service. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.