Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Gentlemen, good morning and thank you for being here.
When our colleague Mr. Julian insisted on hearing from you, I thought it was a very good idea, first, because this brings an important dimension to any free trade agreement with the countries of North America, South America and so on, and, second, because it appeals to us because of globalization and multilateral, international agreements, the WTO and so on.
It's relatively unrealistic to think we can apply labour standards across all American countries in the short term. We see that businesses move from country to country in order to take advantage of their differences so they can make more money, operate their businesses and make them more profitable.
I'd like to go back to replacement workers. They say that Canada could be a leader or be a source of good things for all agreements. The Bloc has made a number of attempts to have the principle of eliminating replacement workers accepted, as is done in Quebec and a number of other provinces — the term “a number” may be excessive — but it's nevertheless being done. Canada is negotiating the agreements, and it can't even stand up for its own workers. That's why workers vary from province to province.
How can Canada keep pace in order to comply with minimum labour standards in international agreements?