Mr. Speaker, China is repeatedly jailing dissidents like Wei Jingsheng and student leader Wang Dan for speaking out on human rights. It has violated its joint declaration agreement on Hong Kong and its basic law by appointing its own legislative council, introducing laws on subversion and rolling back Hong Kong's bill of rights.
Our government's response is not to support the UN declaration condemning China for its human rights abuses, a complete flip-flop. China is a superpower but it can also be a great nation. China and Canada need to realize that a stable business environment is conditional on human rights, democratic principles, freedoms and the rule of law. To ignore this is to imperil not only people but economic stability. The government must stop its continued silence of the lambs and must speak out for human rights.