Madam Speaker, I compliment the member opposite for giving the House an opportunity to see the dimensions of our discussion. With the facts he has given, he has recounted our dependency on all those issues that address international trade.
One is tempted to ask the obvious question. The government has a recognition of the importance of trade with the United States, in particular, and he mentions the NAFTA partners. Given the dependency of Canada's GDP on that bilateral exchange with the United States as well as the intra-company exchanges that contribute to our wealth, why would the government not have foreseen what is developing in the United States?
I am not talking about somebody being prescient. All one needed to do was to follow the primary campaigns and the election just completed in the United States to see that there were forces developing there that would inhibit our trade potential. Why does he think the government's belated language today is a good policy of inaction in the face of challenges that we must continually nurture?