Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sherbrooke, with whom I have the great pleasure to work on the Standing Committee on International Trade.
I am happy to have the opportunity to speak to this issue. As hon. members know, I am a farmer. Even though I have been a member of Parliament for a year, I still have my farm. For 15 years, I was involved in the farm union movement in my area, the lower St. Lawrence, and in Quebec, but also with other alliances of workers' unions and so on.
For years, especially in Quebec, we have been saying—and I have been saying in particular, as a farmer who has been involved in standing up for farmers' rights—that if, as farmers and workers, we want to succeed and keep on developing in a viable way, we must look to foreign trade and agreements with other countries. However, we have also been saying that this has to be done in a way that benefits everyone. It has to win-win for everyone. It has to be a winning proposition for my brother and me on my farm in Rimouski and a winning proposition for my fellow farmer in a developing country. To my way of thinking and in the opinion of the farmers in Quebec and in the lower St. Lawrence, this is the only way to achieve sustainable, fair trade, so that as many people as possible can live decently, wherever they may be.