Mr. Speaker, the Liberal leader has continued to parrot criticism levelled at us by the Chinese leadership and Chinese state-controlled news media. We in the House must remember what lies at the root of this criticism. The criticism flows from our government's principled decision to remain focused on human rights while at the same time seeking to strengthen trade and economic ties.
Whether or not they have the guts to say so explicitly, the Liberal leader and his party have bought into the premise that we were wrong to push human rights and wrong to defend people like Hussein Celil, who is not just a political prisoner but also a Canadian citizen. We make no apologies for pursuing both strong human rights and strong international trade.
The Liberals took a values-free approach to foreign policy and they are still peddling it today. In fact, yesterday the Liberal leader issued a statement on China that failed to mention human rights. How do the Liberals justify that?