Mr. Speaker, I thank the Conservative member for his question.
He has referred to the free trade agreements, particularly those with Colombia and the European Free Trade Association. The hon. member has, moreover, no doubt heard my references to more humane globalization and more humane criteria, such as the protection of human rights, of jobs, of labour unions or of the environment. That is not what is happening in Colombia. President Obama has, moreover, indicated that he would not sign a free trade agreement with Colombia. For the Conservative government, however, it is a matter of a mad rush to see who can sign the most bilateral free trade agreements. As I said in my speech, what we favour is multilateral agreements. All countries need to be on the same track and defending the same causes.
As for the agreement with the European Free Trade Association, which has been discussed this week and will be discussed further in committee, I must emphasize that we support it. However, we have mentioned two important points: supply management and a shipbuilding industry policy. Even though a free trade agreement is favourable to Quebec generally speaking, these two elements remain irritants and the government needs to give some thought to dealing with them.
In the current context, I repeat, there are some 200 countries on this planet all trying to sign bilateral free trade agreements with other countries. Everyone will have free trade agreements. Often, when entering into such an agreement, to get certain things, one must give something as well. Bilateral agreements now contain a little clause indicating that, if ever the country with which one is signing an agreement signs a more advantageous one with another country, ours will have to be adjusted as well.
It can be seen, therefore, that efforts are being made, not always bad ones, but overall we do of course support the multilateral approach. We want to be sure the WTO works properly. If there is some reluctance as far as the WTO is concerned at present, it is because there is one matter that must be excluded from it. Culture has been excluded, and the food supply must be also, in order to protect food sovereignty and safety in these programs.