Mr. Speaker, all agendas have to move forward. If we do not move forward on one because there might be problems on the other we would never go anywhere. We will continue to address these major challenges, the softwood lumber one being a very important case in point.
As we know, we have gone to the world court three times and won, but the United States continues to bring action against Canada. The reality is that we have a very competitive softwood industry and unfortunately some of the northern states, the northwestern states in particular, continue to want to fight us because they cannot compete with us. That will be a problem, as it has been for some time. We are very hopeful, because we do believe in free trade and we want to have free trade with the U.S., especially on softwood lumber. We will continue to fight on that one and I am convinced that once again our good industry with its good practices will prevail.
When it comes to the summit of the Americas, this is but one step. There will be many more, I am sure, before there is any kind of an agreement. We really have to start from somewhere. We are speaking of democracy. We have a number of countries in the Americas that have become much more democratic. It is important to work with them. Canada can play a major role and is expected to play that role. We have values that we want to project to other countries in the Americas. We want to be there when the rules are put together so that those countries can take our values into consideration.
It is absolutely essential for us to be at that table, to encourage the dialogue with parliamentarians, as we are doing tonight, to encourage the dialogue with civil society, and to tell the people of Canada that we are concerned in the same ways they are and that is why we are at that table. We want to protect those values that are so important to us as Canadians. If we are not there, the rules will be made without us.
We must remember that we are a large country with a small population. It is better to deal with rules. That is what this is about. It is better to deal with rules that take into consideration what we value than to have other rules imposed upon us about which we have absolutely no say.
I really believe that we must continue to work on all fronts to ensure the best deal for Canadian citizens.