Mr. Speaker, it is quite encouraging to see that our friends in the New Democratic Party seem to have turned a new leaf. It is now supporting trade agreements. I never would have thought, given individuals like Jack Layton and Ed Broadbent, that we would ever see the NDP support free trade agreements. I applaud the New Democrats in recognizing that there is value to trade.
We in the Liberal Party have been very consistent through the years. In regard to this specific agreement, there was a will from South Korea to have an agreement put in place between Canada and South Korea back in 2003. The then prime minister, Paul Martin, took action within the year to ultimately get the negotiations under way. Unfortunately, it has taken many years for the Conservatives to capitalize on that interest of South Korea had, and at great cost. It has cost us a great deal of jobs and opportunities because of the slowness of the Conservative government.
Does my colleague from the New Democratic Party agree that even though there are concerns from the automobile industry in particular with this agreement there is great benefit? Does he agree that a considerable amount of benefit was lost because of the amount of time it took the Conservative government to achieve something that could have been achieved years ago, as many other countries did?