Mr. Speaker, the opposition House leader is daydreaming. The member says that out of all the free trade agreements in the history of Canada, the NDP members found one, sat on their hands, and we have to believe them members because there was no recorded vote. Apparently, they say that they voted in favour of it.
The record is very clear. We know there are a lot of bills, probably more than 50%, where there are votes. The NDP members knew this was important legislation. If they wanted to send a message to Canadians that they were prepared to vote in favour of legislation, they had the opportunity to stand in their place. I suspect it is because the vast majority of their caucus would not have supported having a recorded vote. They were quite content to let it be just a voice vote. Therefore, we do not know how they would have voted.
The member made reference to the 13,000 takeovers. What the member does not recognize is that a vast majority of that investment was the creation of new jobs. It was new companies being established. I would challenge the opposition House leader to tell me which ones out of the 13,000 he would not have supported if he were in government, Heaven forbid? At the end of the day, which one would he have opposed? That is even with the ability of having hindsight. I look forward to having a response from the member on that question.