Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Thank you for joining us.
We have been hearing different things since talk first began of negotiating a possible free trade agreement with Colombia. Clearly, exporters and importers have a valid interest in such an agreement.
Although there was talk regularly of human rights, I still had my doubts. Since the committee began hearing from government representatives or negotiators, the situation has improved. Since President Uribe's government assumed office in 2002, the situation has improved significantly. According to my figures, the number of homicides, massacres and kidnappings has decreased dramatically. Now you're telling us that this is not exactly true and that the situation hasn't changed. We are getting contradictory information.
How reliable is the information that is being conveyed to us? How can it be passed on to the negotiators and the officials concerned about improving the human rights situation? You maintain that one option would be to conduct a full review of the human rights situation. Who do you suggest should be conducting this review and who should be participating in this exercise? Canada could be involved before the ratification of the agreement. Could this be done reasonably soon? Do you intend to recommend something to this effect?