Madam Speaker, let me begin by saying that I will share my time with the hon. member for Joliette. We will each speak for ten minutes.
First off, I want to stress the major role played by Quebecers in 1988, when they supported free trade for Canada. I remind all my fellow Quebecers and Canadians who are listening that, had it not been for Quebecers, Brian Mulroney, who was the Prime Minister at the time, would probably not have had a mandate to negotiate the free trade agreement with the United States.
This happened, however, after a debate that often generated strong opposition on the part of the labour and social movements. However, a real debate did take place and in the end a majority of Quebecers supported this initiative.
Incidentally, I would remind hon. members that, at the time, the party now in office opposed the free trade agreement. Not only were the Liberals opposed to it, they condemned it with every ounce of energy they had.
I should also point out that the free trade agreement was the result of a recommendation made by the Macdonald commission, which was set up by Prime Minister Trudeau during his last mandate.
I would like to add, for the benefit of those listening, that when the Macdonald commission recommended the adoption of a free trade agreement with the United States, it did mention that it might not be the best of worlds but that, in the North American context, with multinational companies controlling 70% of the trade between the two countries, Canada did not really have a choice, because other corporations were being penalized.
I like to recall this because, when the current government came to power in 1993, it also ran against the other free trade agreement negotiated by the previous government, the free trade agreement with Mexico. Speaking about this agreement known as NAFTA, the current Prime Minister had said he would not complete it, that he would reopen the negotiations, but he has not done so.
Since then, we have gained experience. I am sure that Quebecers are still in favour of free trade. However, it is for a reason that there is a strong movement in Quebec, in what has become known as the civil society. People are concerned that the free trade area of the Americas that we are developing will not be specific enough when it comes to social rights, the power taken away from corporations as compared to the former NAFTA, and democracy.
The civil society, to which the Bloc Quebecois subscribes, is saying yes to the free trade zone of the Americas. However, we should be cautious and use any leverage we have to make sure that the social and cultural requirements of Quebec, which is even more in a minority position, with its French language and culture, within the three Americas than within North America, and the requirements regarding the place of Quebec are met. At this point, I will deal with the first point I want to talk about, that is the transparency of these negotiations.
What do we mean by transparency? We mean the ability for parliamentarians, the civil society, citizens and organizations, and not only corporations, because they are involved and in the know, the ability for these groups and individuals to know what is at stake, and be able to monitor what is going on in order to try to influence the government.
We are not naive; we know that the Government of Canada, the provincial governments and foreign governments are subject to strong pressure on the part of corporations, especially multinationals, that, under the guise of seemingly legitimate reasons, want to have more opportunities to expand and make bigger profits.
Therefore, to be able to monitor what is at stake, transparency is required. For us, transparency starts with having access to the basic documents which will be used during the negotiations, documents which will be presented in Buenos Aires on April 6 and 7.
Transparency also means that parliament should vote on the agreement. I intend to introduce in the House, as early as tomorrow, a private member's bill, which hopefully will be supported by my opposition colleagues and by the party in power. This bill was originally introduced by my colleague Daniel Turp, who was unfortunately defeated, and had received broad support at the time.
It is essential that we have a power relationship in which citizens and groups can tell as forcefully as they can that they do not want to be subjected to purely commercial imperatives.
Quebec should also be involved in this negotiation. I want to emphasize that as strongly as I can. Why should Quebec be involved and not be merely consulted? It should be involved for two main reasons.
The first one is its language and culture, which it shares completely with Haiti only. When Canada stands for that, on the one hand, but, on the other, it is one of the countries that—