I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Speaker. I also welcome my colleague from Burnaby—New Westminster back to the House of Commons.
The hon. member talks about Colombia's past and in doing that he studiously ignores the present, the future, and typical of that member, he studiously ignores the facts.
The Conservative government views the pursuit of liberalized trade, and the promotion and protection of human and labour rights as mutually enforcing. In fact, this balanced, responsible approach is guiding the Conservative government's re-engagement with the Americas.
When negotiating free trade agreements, our government's approach ensures that these agreements include robust provisions on environmental and labour cooperation. They commit partners to working together to ensure high levels of protection for workers and the environment. This proves that trade and investment liberalization can go hand-in-hand with labour rights and environmental protection.
Last week the Minister of International Trade signed a comprehensive free trade agreement with Colombia. This agreement and the parallel agreements on labour cooperation and environment signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs will bring real economic benefits to Canada and Colombia. At the same time, these agreements bind both Canada and Colombia to meaningful, enforceable standards on human rights and the environment.
On labour, both countries have committed to ensure that their laws respect the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of 1998, which covers the right to freedom of association and to collective bargaining, the abolition of child labour, the elimination of compulsory labour, and the elimination of discrimination.
I am sure the hon. member would like to ignore that part of the agreement, but it is there in black and white.
The agreements also commit to providing protections for occupational safety and health, acceptable minimum employment standards such as minimum wages and overtime pay, and to providing migrant workers with the same legal protections as nationals in regard to working conditions.
The labour cooperation agreement includes binding obligations and provisions that enable members of the public to submit complaints, known as public communications, to the parties concerning perceived failures to meet the obligations under the agreement. We believe as well that trade liberalization and environmental protection can, and must be, mutually supportive.
On the environment, both countries commit to high levels of environmental protection, enforcing their domestic laws and policies, and not derogate from these laws in order to increase trade or investment. The agreement further encourages the use of voluntary practices of corporate social responsibility and honours international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
A key priority of our government's engagement in Colombia is the promotion and protection of the environment and human rights.
Colombia, as a nation, has come a long way.
This member along with myself and other members of the committee were in Colombia only a few short years ago and it was not safe to travel in Colombia at that time. I have friends from Colombia who left that country because of lawlessness and because they were worried about their own personal safety.
Colombia has come light years. It is a changed country. We can encourage that. We can welcome Colombia into the league of nations or we can turn our back on it. We have done the right thing in signing a progressive trade agreement with Colombia.