Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I've heard the speakers, and I appreciate Mr. Dhaliwal's point as well.
I support the amendment, but further on it talks about Canada developing a framework for a human rights impact assessment—HRIA is the acronym. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Chair, but in my research, and I've been doing some reading on this, it is my understanding that if it's brought into a bilateral trade negotiation it would actually be the bureaucrats who would decide on the subjectivity of human rights, rather than parliamentarians. I think we're abrogating a responsibility. Maybe that could be clarified.
I think we're all concerned about human rights and making sure there's free and fair trade. We want to make sure everybody is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, both as an employer and as an employee. But I believe that we should take the onus, as elected officials, rather than delegate the subjectivity of human rights to the bureaucrats. Developing this framework would create a lot of restriction; it would be very stringent as far as the terms of addressing specific countries' circumstances.
I would like to make a subamendment that the second bullet be removed.