I was only on my introduction. I am getting to Mr. Julian's motion. Overall, it substantially addresses my concerns. It is almost impossible to imagine that Canada would continue its negotiations in light of the violent acts committed being committed in Colombia.
Perhaps I missed a portion of Mr. Julian's presentation, but one issue was not broached, namely the fact that the US Congress apparently refused to sign an agreement with Colombia in light of information it had received about conditions and violent abuses of human rights.
We must break off our negotiations with Colombia until we hear from some knowledgeable people, from witnesses, who can shed some light on the situation for us. We need to take a step back and find out what is really going on in that country.
The Conservative government has introduced a series of law and order bills and is intent on fighting crime. It so happens that crime is a rather serious problem in Colombia. We are being asked to do business with a country, with paramilitary and other organizations actively involved in criminal activity, on the pretence that they are doing some good things—the document that was distributed to us in fact lists a good number of positive things.
It behooves me that the government is even thinking about negotiating measures to promote economic action or business profitability while turning its back on human rights abuses and environmental problems, such as we have seen with the mining companies operating in Colombia. We need to shed some light on this matter before the government signs any kind of agreement.