Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comment that I have not been out of order up to now. I hope by the time I finish my statements today, I will not be out of order either.
Quite frankly, the labour rights and environmental side agreements to this agreement are the strongest we have ever signed. This is a trade agreement. This agreement is really not meant to cover labour and the environment, but we have expanded our trade agreements. We accept the fact that labour and environmental rights are a part of a new era of corporate social responsibility and a new era in trade agreements, especially with countries where their labour and environmental processes may not be as advanced as ours. These are very solid protections for labour and the environment.
I find it interesting. The opposition members say that we have signed a separate agreement on labour and a separate agreement on the environment, which have strength of their own. However, had we put them in the main agreement, they would have said that they meant nothing because they were only one line. Yet they have a force of their own, separate of trade. Because we have done that, however, those members say they are just an addition and they do not mean anything. No matter how we did it, NDP members would not be satisfied. Therefore, I am not going to pretend to satisfy them.
However, I will explain to them, one more time, that these are the strongest additions and protections for labour and environmental processes of any agreement ever signed in the history of Canada.
We have already looked at the rights for the environment and labour. When we look at the rights for investors, they need to have some protections. Let us be clear. What we have is a rules-based process to settle disputes. That is much better than gunboat diplomacy, which apparently those members would like to see us apply. I do not agree with that.