Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that the MAI talks have been suspended, and we hope for good, petitions continue to roll in from across the country from thousands of Canadians who are concerned about the MAI and the fact that the government still has not given up the idea of a multilateral agreement on investment similar to that which it was seeking at the OECD.
Therefore I have petitions from various provinces calling on parliament to reject the current framework of MAI negotiations and instructing the government to seek an entirely different agreement by which the world might achieve a rules based, global trading regime that protects workers, the environment and the ability of governments to act in the public interest.
The opportunity is now for the government to do this. Given that the talks have broken down, we hope the government will finally listen to the many thousands of petitioners who have been asking it to do this.