Madam Speaker, I appreciate the member for Surrey—Newton reminding me of that initiative of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement as we travelled together as members of the Standing Committee on International Trade. Indeed, having a side agreement on the environment was a very important aspect of entering trade with a country like Colombia. In fact, it is important for any country that we do trade with, and that began with the North American Free Trade Agreement. It continues and is improved in agreement after agreement today.
It is hugely important to Canadian citizens to know that our protection of the environment will not be weakened in Canada as a result of a free trade agreement and, in fact, the agreement itself may serve to strengthen protection of the environment in our trade partners.