Mr. Speaker, I have a short comment and question for the Leader of the Opposition. I as a western Canadian support trade. It is a very important part of the economy of western Canada. I support free trade and expanding trade. It is very important for jobs, productivity and so on. However, one concern I have about NAFTA, and some of the other trade deals, is the argument that it takes away some of the democratic control from local countries and communities. Decisions can be made that affect the environment, social standards and issues of that sort.
A case in point was the Metalclad Corporation in Mexico. In 1996 it wanted to establish a waste disposal plant in one of the Mexican states. The governor of the state and the local community said they did not want it in their state. Metalclad sued that particular state of Mexico and was awarded some $17 million U.S. That is now being appealed to a higher court.
I would like to ask the Leader of the Opposition if he has some concerns about the lack of democracy in the trade deals. It is not a question of trade, or more trade in the world or free trade. In many cases there is a lack of democracy for countries to make decisions that affect them.
Does he share some of those concerns in terms of trying to build in some of these safeguards in the trade agreements? Democracy is a very important thing. People elect parliaments and those parliaments should be sovereign over those communities. In some cases these trade deals are just a charter for investors and, in my opinion, run roughshod over democratic rights.