Mr. Speaker, I will start off by stating what the parliamentary secretary did not say in response to that question. Yes, the FIPA with China and Canada is similar, but it is certainly not the same.
We are dealing with what is now or will be the biggest economy in the world, and we are also dealing with state-owned enterprises. There is a lot of difference in terms of the China agreement, and some other countries have recognized that and have put in specific safeguards in their own country's interests on SOEs. They have done it in a way to protect their own interests and still have a foreign investment protection agreement. That should be added to the parliamentary secretary's answer.
I am pleased to speak to the motion, but I want to point out a few facts as I begin. What the motion really shows in this place is the extreme position of both the Conservative government and the NDP opposition on major issues that affect Canadians.
On the one hand we have the Conservative government that will sign any deal just to get a deal, just to get the number. It will sign basically anything, regardless of the long-term consequences on Canadians.
On the other hand, we have the NDP, which seems to oppose any trade or investment treaty, and leaves us with the impression that the NDP position is anti-trade in its approach to the economy. That kind of thinking belongs in the early 20th century, not today.
We have the two extremes. What the Liberal Party wants to do is find the balance. That is why, as I said earlier in a question, we will not be voting for the NDP motion because we really think what we should be doing is holding the proper hearings. We cannot just throw out an investment treaty that has some flaws in it. We need to fix the flaws. That is really what we need to be doing.
In order to do that, and the parliamentary secretary can say all he likes about the fact that there were seven opposition days and more—