Mr. Speaker, there is no question that a majority of people would agree with that. My colleague and I and the rest of our caucus went to Quebec City to the people's summit because there were concerns over trade issues and the way huge corporations were starting to control the political agenda and the legislation in numerous countries.
The legislation would protect people and give them information. Our party believes that individuals should be allowed to decide. They should be given the information on which to decide about an issue such as genetically modified foods.
If there is nothing to fear, the information should be put on the label and individuals should be allowed to decide whether or not they want to take that chance. The same applies to buying products made in other countries where maybe the labour standards are not up to snuff.
We know there is a problem in Indonesia so we do not make a decision to stop buying coffee there. However we will not buy coffee from Indonesia if we know that its farmers are not being treated fairly or that someone is running roughshod over the people and violating human rights.
We are not jeopardizing the rights of Canadian citizens by saying they cannot do something. We are saying that individuals should be given the information. Information is what it is about. Everyone has the right to ask those questions. We should not have legislation in place, either through this piece of legislation or any other, that says it might jeopardize corporate profitability.
Is corporate profitability more important than knowing that a four year old is sitting at a loom making a rug we are going to walk on so that we can get it for some $20 less? How many of us, if we knew that a four or five or six year old was working on a loom day after day to put a rug under our feet, would buy the darn thing? We would not.
However let us go a step further, have some principles and say that people have a right to know where something is made. They have a right to know if a company is using child labour or if it is paying wages below the standards that it is supposed to. We have a right to know these things.
The legislation should be about the rights of shareholders to control what their corporation is doing. If they are investing they have a right to know where the corporation is investing and if it is breaking laws. That is what we are asking. We are not saying that shareholders cannot do it. We are saying they have a right to know and the right to get information in order to make decisions.