Well, I encourage you, Mr. Minister, then, to meet broadly with stakeholders and to meet with this committee more than once every 14 months, because we represent stakeholders as well. I think that seeking the input of this group might be just as valuable to you as seeking the input of industry groups.
More than one member of Parliament, Mr. Minister, has commented that it's strange to get more information about the state of negotiations on CETA with the European Union from the Europeans than we get from our own government, including members of your own caucus, might I add.
I'm going to turn to something else. In 2006, Prime Minister Harper said:
I think Canadians want us to promote our trade relations worldwide, and we do that, but I don't think Canadians want us to sell out important Canadian values....They don't want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar.
Your government recently concluded a FIPA with China. Article 28 of that agreement allows China to hold hearings in private at its discretion, something that looks to me, as a lawyer, like a sellout of our Canadian values of an open court system. I know you're a lawyer, too, so you'd be familiar with that concept.
For a FIPA that gives substantial rights to China's investors in Canada, can you tell us if any human rights commitments were received from the Chinese government in exchange?