Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my hon. colleague, and I could not believe some of things he was saying.
Are we more likely to help Colombia or anybody else progress in their human rights record or their economies by working with them or ignoring them?
I have to point out something that the hon. member said. He seemed to give the impression that because the GDP in Canada is $48,000 and the GDP in Colombia is $5,000 that somehow it is unworthy of Canada to work with and help Colombia. I cannot believe he actually said that. The GDP in Afghanistan is about $500. By extension, does that mean we should ignore Afghanistan and all the things it needs and the help that Canada can bring it just because it is not up to our standard of GDP?
For heaven's sake, I cannot believe the member would say that.
I ask the member, generally speaking, whether it is Colombia or Afghanistan, can we help people better by working with them in helping to bring their standards up by entering into these kinds of agreements, or do we just ignore them and say, “To heck with you. You're not up to our standard. Why should we work with you?” That is ridiculous.