We do not support the idea of just negotiating bilateral agreements with anyone. The reason we think Colombia is so important is because Colombia is a very important country in the hemisphere, and I'm sure you would agree. It certainly is a very important country in South America. It's a country of significant size, of significant maturity, and of significant depth. It has a lot of things going for it, in addition to having a very troubled history and, as you say, a lot of unresolved problems.
I stressed in my remarks that Colombia would help to build a series of bridges and cornerstones for Canada in a continent where for too long we have not been present. I don't have to remind you that before we did our bilateral agreement with Chile, our presence in South America, indeed our presence, really, south of the southern border of the United States, keeping in mind that our relationship with Mexico is a relatively recent one....
The importance of moving into that hemisphere for us is very important, first because we think we have something to offer. Second, we think there are some very important synergies. If you ask me where it fits in, I would say that in our world, in the world of the western hemisphere, after having done the agreements with Mexico and Chile, we would put Colombia way up there. If you asked me whether that is more important than Brazil, well, Brazil is really not on the table right now, and it's not likely to be for quite some time.
As to the first issue, personally, all my professional life I've believed that the connection between open markets, democratic liberalization, rule of law, and respect for the environment are inextricably linked. That's one of the reasons, in my view, the Soviet Union collapsed. That's one of the reasons China is now joining the family of nations. There are many countries that do not have our, in absolutist terms, democratic values or protections for the values that are important to us--the environment, human rights. But we don't say to those countries that until they have achieved our level of perfection, we don't want to have anything to do with them. Why are we engaged with China? Because we want to bring China fully into the world of the family of nations, even though there are imperfections to deal with that will take time. Colombia is the same.
So in our view, environment, human rights, corporate social responsibility, and building capacity are enormously important. Should they be given the same degree of prominence as the negotiation of what I call the hard black and white elements of the free trade agreement? The answer, simply, is yes. I'm a great believer in that. I don't think we should go to any country and negotiate free trade agreements without taking into account these other things, because these other things are essential.