Mr. Chairman, as a member of the parliamentary delegation that will be going to Doha, I find it deplorable that the chief negotiator of the Canadian delegation will not listen to the arguments raised by a number of hon. members of this House, no doubt because of a supposedly overloaded agenda, whereas what we are debating is of fundamental importance for the future of Canadians.
A number of us have raised the point here in the House that there must be a human face to globalization, that is the international treaties must include social, environmental and worker protection clauses. These must have equal legal weight with the purely international trade related clauses.
Particularly since the events of September 11 in the United States, the trade objectives of Canada and of the entire need to be reviewed within a far broader perspective, taking into consideration a number of the concerns of the developing countries.
We are convinced that freer trade can lead to democratization, if the right means of attaining our objectives are selected.
In conclusion, the Bloc Quebecois is in favour of greater openness for international trade. We have said this over and over. We are, however, of the opinion that this openness must not be achieved at just any price and just any old way.
The principles that I have just outlined are the same principles that the Bloc Quebecois put forward before the Seattle conference and the summit of the Americas in Quebec City. They need to be put forward in a much clearer, stronger and more dynamic manner by the federal government, which unfortunately views these international trade negotiations as an opportunity to liberalize trade, obviously, while leaving behind the poorest of the poor, who are unfortunately forgotten on the road toward increased world wealth.
For a population that exports 44% of its gross domestic product, Canada and Quebec cannot oppose greater international trade. However, it must not be done any old way and it must take into consideration the different social aspects of globalization.