Chairman, I have three quick points. One is that as laudable as it is that Panama has signed 12 tax information exchange agreements with other countries, they have not signed one with us. There is no agreement with Canada.
My second point is that we could sign and pass this trade agreement, and we have no guarantee at this point that the parties will actually conclude a tax information exchange agreement. We're hopeful that it may be the case, but my concern is that once we have a free trade agreement, there will be no leverage anymore. If for any reason negotiations break down, we'll be left in a situation of having a trade agreement with preferential treatment for Panamanian investors without having a tax information exchange agreement. We're taking a leap of faith here that I don't think is prudent.
My final point is that nothing in my remarks is meant to suggest that there's anything but legitimate investment flowing from Canada to Panama. I would even argue that much of the investment from Panama into Canada is likely legitimate as well.
My understanding of the way illicit money is transferred into illegitimate funds is that illicitly gained money from drugs or any other kind of illegal activity is put into a legitimate type of business in, let's say, a country like Panama. If they have secrecy laws, or if we don't have a tax information exchange agreement with Panama, then that money, once it's turned into a legitimate business, could then flow into Canada. We wouldn't have the ability, without such an information agreement, to actually have full transparency and scrutiny.
That completes the reasoning behind this motion.