Mr. Speaker, it is important to recognize that this particular agreement was not an initiative by this particular government. In fact, it was South Korea, which back in 2003 put itself on track to go out to the world and sign free trade agreements. Within a year of that, Prime Minister Paul Martin put Canada in a position to begin the negotiations.
My question is in regard to the amount of time that it has taken for this current government to reach an actual agreement. We often hear about the United States, but other countries, such as Chile, India, and Peru, have been successful in getting an agreement in place earlier.
Why does the minister think it took Canada so long to actually achieve an agreement?