Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to make some comments about some points that I would like to help the hon. member with and on which I disagree with her position.
We all know that the member for Halifax is a very learned and solid contributor to the House of Commons, but with respect to the free trade initiative we have to reflect on the overall impact it has had on Canada. Our trade with the Americans was around $90 billion in 1998. Now our trade with them is over $320 billion each and every year. That is the single largest instrument of the growth we have had in our economy. To some, globalization is a problem, but we know Canada can win on a trade based regime. We can compete with the world and actually grow our economy.
With respect to the MMT issue, the member is absolutely right. There was enough scientific capacity to say that MMT could have a negative effect on human health. All the Government of Canada had to do was to ban that substance as a toxin under schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, a very pioneering act brought forward by guess who? The Progressive Conservative Party. Had the government banned it as a schedule 1 toxin as opposed to making it a trade issue, it would not have been challenged under NAFTA. To hold NAFTA responsible for the Liberals' mismanagement of MMT as an environmental cause is wrong. Clearly under NAFTA and under FTA Canadians have the right to set our own labour, cultural and environmental standards.