Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank my hon. colleague from Winnipeg Centre.
Some child experts question the effectiveness of measures such as the one my colleague has just been speaking about, that is banning imports of forced or indentured child labour. The underlying cause of child labour is poverty and the long term solution is to attack poverty. This point came out clearly in the speech of the minister for international development at the Oslo child labour conference last week.
The conference was hosted by the Norwegian government in conjunction with the ILO and UNICEF. It unanimously adopted an agenda for action which appears consistent with our policy on the issue of child labour.
Our efforts are focused on three issues: providing affordable access to primary education particularly for girls; improving the status, role and economic security for women as equal partners in development; and encouraging governments to enforce existing laws governing the employment of children.
Canada is actively supporting the work of the ILO to develop a new convention by 1999 on the most intolerable forms of child labour including bonded labour. Canada is to host a preparatory meeting in Ottawa for principal donor countries that were invited to the Oslo conference.
Within our region, the United States, Mexico and ourselves are examining the child labour and working conditions of young people. Our labour minister spoke at a trilateral conference in Ottawa last month which was attended by over 100 government, labour and NGO representatives.
We also believe that business can play a role that reinforces international action by government response to ethical, environmental and social concerns. A private sector alliance developed an international code of business ethics for firms operating overseas.