Madam Speaker, I listened very carefully to my colleague's comments.
In the debate, and in the time I have been parliamentary secretary and he has been critic, I found his comments for the most part to be quite constructive. However he cited an inconsistency in the government's position. I will cite what I think the inconsistency was and ask him to comment.
First, the hon. member made the point that the Prime Minister said the chapter 11 clause was good. Then a little later in his comments he was more accurate when he quoted the Prime Minister as saying he was reasonably satisfied with how the chapter 11 clause was working, given the totality of our trade relationship in NAFTA and the $1.3 billion of trade done daily back and forth across the border with the United States.
The second part was a more accurate reflection of what I recall the Prime Minister saying.
The hon. member talked about the comments of the Minister for International Trade and that he was not interested in any kind of an investor clause. That is what the motion says. Surely the hon. member recalls the minister repeatedly saying inside and outside the House that what was needed was not to scrap the clause or reopen it but to clarify it, that yes, the scope of the original signers of the deal needed to be clarified and that should be a priority.
What is the hon. member's position and that of his party on the protection of investment? Does he feel there needs to be some rules to protect foreign investment in Canada and also Canadian investment overseas? Does he not see that is required or does he subscribe to the silly notion that we should somehow scrap this altogether? I would appreciate his views on those points.