Excuse me, sir. Could we come back to the first questions I have asked?
You are describing to us, one by one, all the elements of the free trade agreement, but my questions dealt mainly with the trade union movement and the size of your organizations compared to the total trade union movement. We know that three large trade union organizations representing the great majority of unionized workers are against the free trade agreement.
You said, about the other unions that are opposed to the free trade agreement, that they want to politicize the issue. In our country, a large labour organization representing the employees of the Public Service of Canada has declared against this agreement. I do not believe that they are making a political statement. However, they are against this Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement because of what is happening over there with regards to human rights.
You made reference to people who are doing misinformation in the United States. Still, the United States have not yet ratified the free trade agreement. The main reason is because of what is going on in Colombia in the area of human rights. We know full well that Americans have done a lot of trade everywhere on the planet and they have not always been concerned about a minimum level of human rights respect. In this case, they are. So there must be some validity to the argument. Also, while the human rights groups are not all taking position totally against the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, at the very least, they are suggesting that we wait and make a formal assessment of the human rights situation.
According to one theory, if you are doing business, if you are making money and more people are working, automatically, the crime rate and the number of human rights violations will decrease. However, this is not necessarily automatic. There must also be some will. However, we are wondering about the will or the capacity of the Colombian government to clean up the situation concerning the armed militia, such as FARC, etc.
I believe that you represent a minority of union members, but you are giving them some greater significance because you are in a large urban centre with a population of 3.5 million. You are saying that most crimes occur elsewhere, in mining centres. And indeed, there is a lot of Canadian investment in the mining industry. However, according to witnesses, the mining companies hire members of the armed groups to ensure their protection.
I would really like to be able to tell you that the arguments that you are giving us to defend the free trade agreement are based on the fact that there is some significant improvement. Unfortunately, there are still some 40 trade unionists who have been murdered. In Quebec and in Canada, there has been none and that, since the beginning of the movement. The worst that has happened is that once, three trade union leaders have been jailed for a few days. I believe that there must be some will.
Have you made an impact study of the human rights situation or the social context, following the signing of a free trade agreement with Canada?