With all due respect, Mr. Neve, the homicides have gone down. Education has improved considerably. It appears that there has been significant improvement in most of the areas we're concerned about. There's still a long way to go. If you had a magic wand, or if Mr. Julian had a magic wand... If we had a magic wand, we would wave it and we'd have a perfect world, but we don't. Progress is made in incremental steps, and we are all heading toward the same goal.
So if Canada were to back away from this free trade agreement, in which we have an opportunity to perhaps increase our influence with Colombia, as a country that respects human rights... If we were to back away for further study... We've been on this for a year and a half now. There are about half a dozen other countries that are anxious to sign agreements with Colombia that don't even have the willingness to sign what we're going to sign with them with regard to labour contracts, side agreements, and the environment. If we were to back away for further study--we could go on for another two years, given how long we've been doing it now--our seats are going to be filled by those other countries as far as free trade with Colombia is concerned. There may not be a chance to come back to the table to negotiate to try to get a free trade agreement because there may not be any room.
Do you think it's morally smart to think that we should walk away now and not give Colombia the benefit of the influence we can have by signing this free trade agreement, no matter how small the steps are for the improvement we can maybe offer through our influence? Do you think it's morally smart to do that?