What I am saying is that, at the moment, we do not have the conditions to properly evaluate the effects of free trade in an already-difficult business climate. For that reason, it is quite difficult to give an informed answer to the question. The current situation concerns us greatly, and the job losses that we are going through at the moment add to the concern, as I said. There is nothing here that puts our minds at rest. I do not want to wage a war of economic studies, but I am astonished that we have so little information. It was only this year that the department published its first study, although negotiations have been going on since 2005. It would have been good to have much more evaluation and analysis, especially analysis by sector and by province. Then we would have been in a better position to judge the possible consequences of such an agreement.
On February 13th, 2008. See this statement in context.