International Trade committee  I will give my presentation in French. I also have a document that was translated in both languages. On behalf of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee on Bill C-2.

International Trade committee  Okay. So it will take more than 10 minutes, if I understand correctly.

International Trade committee  I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you. CUPW represents 54,000 workers, in both rural and urban communities from coast to coast to coast. A majority of our members work for Canada Post. I have been to Colombia several times, both as part of my work and for

International Trade committee  Sir, I can address that issue. I think everybody around the table here agrees that one of the most important things, when we're talking about trade, is fair trade. In some ways it depends. Your colleague talked about 213,000 people displaced, but the record is more than 4 million

International Trade committee  Did you ever go to the Chocó, which is the northwestern part of Colombia, where they have the palma africana? It's not the FARC who is there; it's paramilitaries. Did you ever go to Cauca--

International Trade committee  Against labour leaders? Yes. I think the position of our union has always been that we want peace and we're against violence. That's always been our position.

International Trade committee  We haven't. It's internal policy of Colombia. We have a partnership with a union there, and this partnership is to develop the people--

International Trade committee  Sir, it's easy to send out this kind of attack, but in rebuttal to you around that issue, I can say that I'm sure--

International Trade committee  I think people have to be clear. It's always been the orientation of our union to put forward the idea that peace is one of the most important things. We don't go...we develop relations with other unions all over the world to support them in doing their work. For us, one of the m

International Trade committee  --some of our members talk about the issue. As a union, we think what's happening in the postal sector is global. When it's global, I think every union and every president of a union has a right to say what is the best way to change. Our position around the issue of Israel and a

International Trade committee  Knowing Colombia, I would say no. It is the principle. When you get your hands caught in the works, your arm and body are the next to go. It is not logical to put an agreement in place that says that you will clarify what it means after a year. My opinion is that you should go

International Trade committee  At the time, yes, it was the committee's unanimous view.

International Trade committee  For us, it is not a race. For us, trade has fundamental principles. The trade must be between equals. This is the basis of all trade, between individuals and between two countries. Trade is not just about what is profitable, not just about business, but about the impacts on peopl

International Trade committee  In some ways, we didn't see the full thing around the issue. That's one of the points; we really wanted to see it. For us, yes, the issue around wanting to develop a trade agreement with someone is that the commercial part is one side. At some point, when we see that the commerc

International Trade committee  It's not credible. When you talk to the people on the street in Colombia, they're talking about what the DAS is doing, what the Black Eagles are doing. That's what we hear on the street when we talk with people. I think DFAIT has put a cover on everything.