Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I know the opposition would like to delay this and find a reason to not move forward with it. That was obvious last week. But in all honesty, it's always been a dual process. There have been two parallel processes all along. The negotiating team on Colombia were working parallel to our study on Colombia.
Our study on Colombia is to determine whether or not we're going to agree with the final outcome. Our study was never to determine the final outcome. We're not the trade negotiators for the Government of Canada. We're the international trade committee, and there is a different role there.
Our study on Colombia was to find out if we supported a free trade agreement with Colombia. So trying to hold EFTA hostage here is really, I think, disrespectful to the process. It's one agreement that has real reasons to move forward. EFTA has nothing to do with the agreement on Colombia, and it's not fair at all to link them.
Mr. Chairman, I think we should move ahead with our discussions on EFTA. We should bring them to a conclusion. If we're going to hold up Colombia and use that as hostage--and that's what the opposition is doing here--then that's doing this process a disservice.