Mr. Chair, I want to say first that the attack—because it is an attack—on the reputation of the people of the Magdalen Islands, Newfoundland and Labrador and the lower North Shore is horrendous. To face this attack, we must use all the means at our disposal.
Depending on attack x, y or z from an adversary, one of these means is to react relatively passively and wait to see what happens. Will the adversary tire of his attacks? This attitude should be condemned and it is certainly reprehensible. I think we should act with great vigour and rigour.
The abolitionists use pictures to their advantage to wage their campaigns and battles. I have to admit they do it vigorously, but not very rigorously. We have to respond in kind. There are many places where we can act: the G7, G8, G20, and so forth. We could also bring this issue up in the incipient negotiations over a free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. There are places where we can act, but we need to do so with more vigour. This means that the government needs to have teamwork. We parliamentarians can work together collegially as a team, but the government has to do it as a team too.
I would therefore encourage the Minister of Foreign Affairs to act with greater rigour. He said just recently, in a rather resigned way, that what they are doing does not make any sense and we would see at the WTO. I do not think that is the way to react. We have to take the offensive, act rather than react.