Mr. Speaker, let me correct the record in two important respects.
First, we were not silent during the election campaign on this issue. We spoke about it in public forums. We had a clear position. We supported the negotiations, not the agreement, because there is no agreement. We do not support an agreement that does not yet exist. That is why we want to be able to debate it in this place. We do support negotiating instead of pulling out of the negotiations unilaterally and hiding our heads in the sand, as our friends from the New Democratic Party would want us to do.
We will go through the negotiations. We support the government's presence at such negotiations. Canadians will be able to debate the agreement that is finalized there.
We have been very willing to discuss the issue all along and during the election campaign. When I debated the New Democratic candidate in my constituency he never raised the matter, but I did talk about our support in principle for free trade. I do not know what the hon. member is talking about.