Mr. Speaker, I thank the Bloc for supporting this important legislation.
To date, this convention has been ratified by 143 countries making it one of the most ratified instruments in the world. If there were anything wrong with this instrument, we would not have so many countries signing this convention.
By signing this convention we would not only be providing protection to our investors but we would be providing them with a mechanism to solve any disputes that arise. I am happy to tell the member that over a period of time, over 40 years, not many disputes have occurred where the ICSID Convention has been used. Nevertheless, we need to ratify this to give our businesses the same kind of level playing field that other businesses have in 143 countries around the world.