Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I won't take too much time on this, because I realize that we have clause-by-clause consideration, but it is a substantive motion and it deserves a rebuttal.
Mr. Davies has mentioned a couple of pertinent facts, the first one being that Panama is off the OECD grey list. They've been off that list for some time now, because they've signed a number of taxation information exchange agreements with other countries around the globe.
The part of his discussion I would quite disagree with, Mr. Chairman, is that I don't think we can simply say that Panama is a tax haven for drug money. I think it's much more complicated than that. The over $100 million in trade with Panama today from Canadian companies is all clean money. Those are good investments. I don't think any Canadian money whatsoever is being sheltered in Panama, quite frankly.
The importance of a tax information exchange agreement, though, is real. We are negotiating that. In a dual system, we have a negotiation going forward for a tax information exchange agreement. We've already negotiated the free trade agreement. We see them as two separate issues. Both are extremely important issues, but they are two separate issues. The official opposition recognizes that. I understand their point, but we're ready to get on with this treaty and to continue to negotiate the tax information exchange agreement.