If I could use the chair's discretion to make an intervention, when I was in China, in Beijing, as has been mentioned, I was with Zhao Ziyang's family shortly following his death to bring condolences on behalf of Canadians and others who regarded him as an important figure for reform and democratization in China. Canadian officials tried to direct me not to go to his family house. They said to do so would cause great damage to the bilateral relationship; it would set things back enormously, and there would be consequences. Of course, there were no visible consequences of any kind. The only thing that continued was the growth of the Chinese trade surplus with Canada, so I don't imagine they'd want to jeopardize that.
I'm just going to ask one question, and then we'll come back to your round.
The narrative Mr. Menzies referred to in the past week in response to the initial cancellation of the bilateral heads of government meeting was that this was precipitated by a series of actions taken by the government and Parliament, including our granting refugee status to Lu Decheng, an important Chinese dissident; our parliament's unanimous consent for honourary citizenship to the Dalai Lama; my own greeting him in Canada on behalf of the government; and gestures such as these.
Would you care to comment on that? My understanding is that the United States Congress has granted the Dalai Lama the congressional medal of honour. They've received hundreds of political dissidents as refugees to the United States. The President has met with the Dalai Lama at the White House. Why do you think some people in Canada believe that we have less moral authority than our neighbours to the south when it comes to operating on the international stage and speaking for Canadian values? I don't understand why we Canadians are always so proud about ourselves vis-à-vis the United States, yet too many people in this country seem willing to set a lower standard for ourselves when it comes to engaging.