Mr. Speaker, left-wing groups like the NDP and the Council of Canadians have been having a field day out west with a misinformation campaign about the MAI. They lost the battle on free trade, so now they want to make a bogeyman about liberalized investment.
I know where they are coming from but I wonder why this government has allowed their fearmongering to go unchecked. I challenge the Minister for International Trade to go out to B.C. and deal with these many allegations surrounding the MAI.
If the government is going to be out there negotiating this agreement, it needs to explain it to the people.
Investment is the lifeblood of economic development. Investment leads to trade and trade leads to jobs for Canadians.
Canadian firms investing abroad need the protection that a rules based investment agreement provides through national treatment.
Canadians deserve to know that a good agreement will be good for Canadians.