Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the role that our government can play in helping to end one of the greatest human rights tragedies of our new century. I speak of the Chinese government's brutal repression of freedom of conscience in general and of Falun Gong in particular.
The Prime Minister will shortly be departing for China on a team Canada mission. Team Canada missions are about trade, and I am sure that every member of the House will agree that free trade and free enterprise promote human rights. Team Canada missions are also about aid, and aid to a tyrannical government can be interpreted by that government as an endorsement of and a subsidy for its repressive actions.
Canadian aid, and that includes any subsidized or preferential trade, must be linked to human rights. If the persecution continues there can be no room for Canada to give aid to China. This is the message that team Canada must take to China.