Thank you, Madam Chair.
Do not blame me, Minister, for asking questions.
Like any agreement, it has its positive sides and some less positive. Some agreements are good while others are not. I think it is also part of the opposition's job to talk about it.
Overall, unlike some colleagues, I welcome several elements of this agreement that could be described as progressive. We seem to have turned the corner and left behind the free trade agreements from the triumphant neoliberalism era, when negotiations were much more aggressive.
However, I find it hard to understand why, after a health crisis and after removing such provisions from the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, or ISDS, is part of the proposed agreement with Ukraine.
Why was this mechanism revived, after it was excluded from the agreement with the United States and Mexico? It is especially difficult to understand after we experienced a health crisis that showed us the importance of public services.
Why should this mechanism that puts multinationals and states on an equal footing be used again?