Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask this of my colleague, after what frankly was one of the most brilliant speeches I have heard since arriving in this House two years ago. I would have liked to have asked the Liberal trade critic from Toronto Centre, but there was great competition to ask questions, and I did not get to ask one.
We heard from the Liberals tonight that somehow or other they are interested in wanting this agreement signed, and they support this bill, but at the same time, they are sort of signalling that, maybe at some point when values are offended to too great an extent, we might well withdraw from this treaty. There were some hints of that in the Liberal trade critic's speech on January 29, when she said, “it will only work if it is more than words”. I was wondering if my colleague can help me understand what is going on here.
She also stated:
...we have to be very aware of what is going on in Honduras...[otherwise] we could be complicit in political, environmental and labour violations...; we have to watch closely and be absolutely certain that we and Canada are behaving well.
With respect to the problem with the side agreements being voluntary, she states:
That puts a great onus on us to be aware, to watch and to be absolutely careful that those political, environmental and labour standards are watched and observed.
With respect to what is facing the LGBT community, it means that “we have to be absolutely aware of and watchful about” this.
She goes on:
Regarding the environmental standards, we have to be watchful about this.... we have to take incredible care.
I am wondering if my colleague from Beaches—East York can help me understand where the Liberal Party may be going with this approach?