Mr. Speaker, I believe that one of the benefits of free trade agreements is that it gives us the capacity not only to discuss and engage on human rights issues during the debate of free trade agreements in the House, which we have seen on Jordan and which we are going to see at committee, but also on an ongoing basis. What I would actually like to see is more engagement on a long-term basis on human rights issues.
On the issue of whether to do an impact assessment of a free trade agreement that has yet to be signed, it is almost impossible to do a legitimate impact assessment of a free trade agreement that has not been signed. Frankly, one cannot with absolute certainty know the impact of a free trade agreement on human rights until we actually see an agreement in place and can evaluate.
I can tell the House that if we isolate a country, it is very clear that our capacity to engage in human rights is reduced. Engaging other countries economically fortifies our capacity to engage them on human rights.
That has been the position of my party for a long time, going back to Pierre Trudeau who was no slouch on human rights, but who saw the wisdom of opening up China. In fact, he was the first western government leader to establish trade relations and economic relations with post-revolution China. He did that because he believed very strongly in human rights and understood the capacity and the importance of economic engagement to foster better human rights.
The hon. member and I perhaps differ on this. He believes that somehow legitimate economic opportunity comes at the expense of human rights. I believe that Canadian companies and investors can do a lot to strengthen human rights in places like Jordan, Colombia and other countries around the world.