Madam Speaker, not that my friend would attempt to distort the facts or anything that was said, let me first say what Premier Roy Romanow of Saskatchewan had to say about the MAI. He declared that Saskatchewan will never be part of any global trade agreement that was essentially a race to the bottom in terms of conditions and standards for people. He said that any international trade agreement would have to recognize trade union rights, the preservation of the environment and human rights before Saskatchewan would even consider signing it.
Those are all absent from the MAI. My friend said there is no such thing as the MAI yet. We should send him over a copy so he can have a look at it. He would notice that those are all exempt from the MAI.
I just want to reiterate for the record that whenever there is a New Democrat government in this country, be it in Saskatchewan, British Columbia, the Yukon or New Democrats in legislatures across the country, we are all unanimous in saying the same thing. The MAI ought not to be signed. The MAI is against Canada. The MAI is really a special constitution of rights and freedoms essentially designed for the multinational corporations.
We believe that the duly elected representatives of the people of Canada and not the multinational corporations ought to make decisions about the future of our citizens.