I think it's an unacceptable excuse. The negotiation and ratification of the Colombia free trade agreement took a considerable period of time because of the tremendous controversy over the serious human rights crisis in Colombia.
There was a lot of serious deliberation that led to the legal agreement, the act that was created, which our government signed two years ago, to agree to produce this report on an annual basis. It had substantial time to consider the methodology and the way in which it would do that to prepare for the implementation of the agreement, knowing that May 15 of this year was when it would have to table its first report.
I frankly don't think the report it tabled even demonstrates that they needed the four and a half months to produce what they delivered on May 15. What they put together could have been slapped together in a short period of time.
To me, it was really turning a blind eye, and I think showing a real disregard for the considerable effort that many people put into trying to craft an opportunity for Canada to respond in a meaningful way to the human rights crisis in Colombia. I don't think that the four and a half months is a reasonable excuse at all.