I think I made the observation earlier that Mr. Julian's party opposed even free trade with the United States. I don't think they did that on human rights grounds, but the fact is I don't think they've ever seen a free trade agreement that they like.
On the other hand, I think it is patently obvious that expanded commercial relations with our trading partners have served Canadians well and also have served to strengthen economic and social progress around the world.
If I may, it comes back to this point that free trade with the United States was sort of the first and biggest deal that Canada did, and it created huge benefits. I think one observation that can legitimately be made is that it helped strengthen our commercial relationships with our major trading partner too much. I think one of the challenges we face strategically as a country right now is looking at a United States that is facing some serious medium-term economic challenges.
We are in a situation now where we should be working as Canadians harder than ever to diversify our relationships around the world. I think in that sense the Colombia agreement is not just important because of the commercial benefits that may evolve in that bilateral relationship but symbolically important in terms of Canada's ambitions in the world.