Madam Speaker, over the last five years, the Canadian government, through CIDA, has provided $64 million of aid to the people of Colombia, institution building, security and helping to rebuild the lives of the people of Colombia, socially and in terms of governance, after 40 years of civil war. Since 1972, the Canadian government has provided around $355 million of aid to the people of Colombia.
We are already engaged as a country in Colombia. Canada is already a partner in Colombia. If the NDP's aversion to this trade agreement is based on what is going on in Colombia, then the logical corollarary of that is those members ought to be opposed to Canadian aid to Colombia.
Is that the case? Are they opposed to sending aid to the people of Colombia? Or is it an ideological aversion to all free trade agreements that is crafting the NDP members' position on this? Is it their position that it is all right to give the Colombian people fish, but we should not give them fishing poles? It is alright to give them direct funding and aid, but for goodness sakes do not buy their products? Is that the NDP approach to foreign development?