Let me suggest to you, if I may, what I think is shameful, that somehow there are those who either refuse to recognize or don't understand--I think it's ideological, and they refuse to recognize--that this agreement provides real benefits for Canadians and Colombians.
When I say that, I mean workers, farmers, miners. My Cape Breton granddad was a coal miner. I will tell you this: it might shock Mr. Julian, but he was a member of the CCF. I will tell you that proudly, because at that time, the challenges for miners' rights in Cape Breton made it really difficult. He always fought on the side of what was right and he used common sense.
I don't always see that with members opposite, and I don't quite get it. I think we have to come to a point--we have to come to a point--where we say this is right for Colombia, this is right for Canada.
As it was said in a recent meeting, we already do business with this country, so why wouldn't we have a rules-based agreement that ensures we are going to protect the labourers in Colombia, that we protect the interests of Canada as opposed to some kind of what I would call willy-nilly kind of arrangement where there are rules but they are limited rules? I struggle with that.
I want to say one other thing. I noticed something that came across. Transparency International, an NGO, ranks Colombia higher than China, Russia, and India in terms of human rights. I could give you more statistics, many statistics, on how the standard of living in Colombia has improved over the years. Would I tell you it is perfect? Probably not. But I would say to you that without an agreement, what's the alternative?
Would you respond to that in our last few moments, please?