Madam Speaker, I want to address the issue. He talks about the disaster there and gives the impression that it is becoming increasingly worse as they digress. Numbers point out that the rate of unionist homicides in Colombia between 1995 and 2008 has decreased dramatically. Basically, per 100,000 inhabitants, it was at 25 to 30 above that at the peak of 1996 and down to less than half that in 2008.
Again, it is not a perfect situation for a trade partner to be in, but it certainly has improved over the past while. Canadians have gone a long way in providing the world with decent policies surrounding biodiversity and we continue to do so. Why would we not want to engage Colombia in a conversation to do much of the same when it, too, has the renewable resources that it desires so much and that we can contribute to help save the very asset about which he talked?