Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, folks, for coming.
I asked a question earlier of the other panellists. I asked if they knew what the wage structure was. We didn't have that information, but since that time, some information has come to me in a February 2012 International Monetary Fund report: 41.6% of the Indian population earns less than a dollar per day. That's worrisome.
My line of questioning in the last couple of sessions has been along the lines of supporting trade and supporting it strongly, but how are we going to make sure that a trade agreement doesn't just benefit investors? Investors—companies—in this country are sitting on the lowest corporate tax rates in North America by far, yet they're sitting on somewhere around $500 billion that's not being invested, not creating productivity, not buying new technology, and not creating jobs in Canada, and that money can flow wherever around the world when the opportunity presents itself.
My concern is about how we make a trade agreement with India or anybody else and ensure that we strengthen and expand our own middle class in this country and expand economic opportunity within Canada. I agree that we need to see the Indian wage structure come up. We need to see investment in that country. We need to see jobs there as well, but do you have any ideas on how we can do both? We don't need trade agreements just to be able to say, “Well, we signed another one.” It needs to be of benefit to this country. Does anybody have any way to respond to that?