Thank you.
On your specific question on the follow-up in the agreement on labour cooperation, the side agreement, article 7.5 says: The Council shall review the operation and effectiveness of the Agreement, including the degree to which progress has been made in implementing the objectives of this Agreement, within five years after the date of entry into force of the Agreement.
Within the first year there's an obligation to have a ministerial council meeting to start the formal relationship, if you wish, and thereafter as necessary. Ministers would meet regularly, but then there's also an obligation to review the operation of the agreement.
As well, I would point out that with the implementation of the agreement, the way we ensure that the other side respects the obligation is through two main mechanisms. One, is cooperation.
Even before the agreement was in force, we had already committed or spent $1.2 million in technical assistance in Jordan, which was almost entirely directed at the issue of migrant workers. We work especially with the ILO's Better Work program in Jordan, which has indicators. The government is one of the first governments that has committed to having all manufacturing businesses in the textile sector in Jordan be part of the Better Work program. This is active monitoring done by the ILO, which we co-fund as well with the U.S. and the participation of the Jordanian government. There is some measurement there.
As well, there is the dispute settlement mechanism. If any Canadian organization believes Jordan is not in compliance with its obligations under the agreement, it can raise compliance issues about the government's respect for international labour rights and enforcement of its own laws.
This agreement is the most extensive and robust agreement that Jordan has signed with any country. This is not a criticism of the U.S. The U.S. agreement was signed in 2000 and doesn't include rights of non-discrimination or rights that would affect the particular situation of migrant workers. Our agreement does. Canadians would be able to use these procedures to ensure respect for labour rights.