Mr. Speaker, I did state clearly in my comments that the NDP is not opposed to free trade or fair trade as our members would rather see it. We are just simply cautious because our experience has been such that we have put our hand on the stove more than once and we are being asked to put it on again in our view.
My colleague did raise the point that we are still not satisfied that these treaties are in fact not being brought to Parliament in the manner that we expected. International treaties are now tabled in the House for a 21 day period during which the House may discuss, debate or hold a vote. A copy of the treaty with an explanatory note is distributed to each MP and after the 21 days the government decides whether or not to ratify the treaty.
In the end the government still retains complete control over the process. That is not quite what we envisioned when we said that it should be up to Parliament to decide if we are going to enter into these international treaties dealing with trade because they are significant in terms of shaping the industrial development of our country.
We argue that treaties that exclude certain industry sectors will in fact shape our progress in that sector, such as shipbuilding. Therefore, we should have an opportunity to ratify or not this process in a greater way than we do.
My colleague had something to say about my remarks regarding how this free trade agreement would deal with agriculture et cetera. I remind him the profound effect that free trade agreements can have on industry sectors such as agriculture and the analogy that I have used is the ink was no sooner dry on the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement than the Americans were filing unfair trade challenges at the Canadian Wheat Board. They tried 11 separate times to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board by trade challenges. They put our Wheat Board under incredible stress and pressure that it is still suffering under today.
The Americans are lucky because they finally found a government willing to do their dirty work for them, what they were unable to do through the FTA and NAFTA. Believe me it was one of their designs and they had their sites set on the Canadian Wheat Board as they were sitting at the table. Simon Reisman did not have a chance because the American negotiators in the free trade agreements knew exactly what they wanted and they put in place, they believed, the provisions to do it. The Canadian Wheat Board has been hanging on by the skin of its teeth through these 11 separate trade challenges. Now, as I say, the Government of Canada is going to do it for them.
The reason I raise this is this particular agreement has a dispute mechanism that goes to the WTO in the event of trade challenges. The WTO is no friend of supply management. That in itself is worrisome enough that we believe this package should be opposed.