Mr. Speaker, I have travelled with the parliamentary secretary on two trade missions and what he just said was fine. I do not think that there is any doubt about what he just said about the importance of international trade, what has happened, and how Canadian businesses are out there engaging with the new realities of international trade and emerging markets.
However, today his subject is Bill C-31 and he completely missed the point. He completely ignored the questions that have been raised in the House. Why is there a need to break up these two departments, the Departments of Foreign Affairs and International Trade? He did not answer this question.
Was there a deeper analysis done to determine if it would be in the longer term interest of Canada if this department was by itself? He did not answer that.
When his Prime Minister came into power, he said there would be a foreign policy review. How come a decision was made before this foreign policy came about?
These are the questions and everybody is wondering if he will now leave his nice, flowery words, and get on with the business and answer these questions.