Mr. Speaker, I am splitting my time with the member for Oak Ridges.
Let me begin by thanking the Minister for International Trade, who, it will be recalled, in response to a question I asked of him in the House during question period some time ago, agreed, on behalf of the government, to hold a take note debate, the debate we are having tonight, on the question of the free trade zone of the Americas, before the Quebec summit takes place.
I am very pleased to see that, even at midnight, there are still a number of members who wish to take the floor.
I am not an expert in international trade. I am not a lawyer, and I have not had a chance to really explore the international trade aspect. Like all of us here, I have had several constituents speak to me and, in some cases, voice concerns and encouraging words. I agreed to share these comments with the House. That is why I am here tonight.
A number of people who spoke to me or wrote to me seemed to be concerned about the preponderant, or at least growing, role of the private sector in international trade. They would like to see the introduction of mechanisms to balance what some perceive to be a growing influence.
If I base myself on our Canadian economy, which is essentially a capitalist regime in which we encourage the creation of wealth, but a system that still has strong socialist leanings, which taxes this wealth and has established a mechanism to redistribute it, we end up with a country that is nonetheless very interesting and very welcoming and which, all told, is a model from several points of view.
For example, if we compare ourselves to our neighbours to the south, we see that income polarization is not increasing in Canada.
Indeed, the income gap in Canada, after taking into account redistribution, such as social programs and so on, has not grown, whereas in the United States it has. On the wealth side, unfortunately, we will have to do something because we have not measured that since 1984. Statistics Canada measured it recently and we had a report a couple of weeks ago showing that the wealth gap, as opposed to the income gap, is increasing. I think it behooves us all to find ways to make sure that gap does not widen but becomes narrower.
However, if we take our approach on social programs, human rights and environmental standards, there is room for improvement in many of those fields, but as a rule we are doing very well by international comparison. If we take this and move it onto the international scene it would perhaps be Canada's greatest contribution.
I have to state my position on this international issue. I am one of those who believe in free trade. I think that history has shown that more wealth is created wherever there is free trade. If sovereign countries can then find ways to share this wealth, their people will end up better off.
I am basically in favour of free trade. However, Canada's position embraces other elements in addition to free trade; it includes considerations such as human rights, democratic principles and environmental standards. I am delighted to see that the holding of this summit in Canada is giving rise to these debates and that our government is encouraging them, because they will be feeding into the summit itself. In this sense, I believe that the trend is an encouraging one.
We receive reams of documentation from all kinds of places. Last week, I was sent a little folder from the Export Development Corporation. I would like to quote a passage from it, from a letter from the president and CEO. These are words that we would perhaps not have found in this type of literature a few years ago. It reads as follows:
At the same time, EDC operates as a successful business and an integral part of society. As such, we are working alongside other leading businesses that are increasingly committed to socially responsible corporate practices. These practices include policies and measures aimed at establishing a business code of ethics, making improvements at the social and environmental levels, public accountability and community participation.
In fact, it is becoming increasingly obvious that, by adopting these socially responsible corporate practices, corporations are achieving reciprocal successes for themselves and for their communities. According to a recent study, the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index surpassed the Dow Jones Global Index by 15% between 1994 and 1999. In other words, it pays to do good.
I do not think that this type of comment would have been found in the literature of the Export Development Corporation some ten years ago. This is encouraging.
I would like to quote another statement, which appeared in the lead editorial in La Presse yesterday. I am citing the paragraph at the end of Mario Roy's editorial:
It is not a matter of seeing nothing but the good in people, and believing that it is possible to change overnight a problem of civilization that has persisted for centuries. Nonetheless, the opportunity is there. Elected officials, whose mandate in their respective countries is not only economic but also political and social, will be sitting at the Summit of the Americas.
Canada, which, as has been said, very much enjoys giving lessons, can certainly take advantage of its role as host to place the question of human rights at the heart of this round of negotiations, which will continue until 2005. We can do it in such a way that it cannot be ignored, so that it is clearly understood that a free trade agreement will be inconceivable unless a certain level of normality is achieved in the countries that are the most negligent with respect to rights and freedoms.
This is a strict obligation for Canada's political elite.
And there is no doubt that in the public mind the Summit in general, and Canada's performance in particular, will be judged from this point of view, as much as from the point of view of the advances that will be made with respect to trade.
Again, we see reflected here in this newspaper, which is after all well regarded, the desire to emphasize these values. That is why I am encouraged by this evening's debate on the summit of the Americas.
This evening, as MPs, we have an opportunity to take a hand in the phenomenon of globalization, to be part of this trend, which one day may be reversed, but which nonetheless is currently very strong. Most countries in the world are moving toward free trade agreements, whether bilateral or multilateral in nature. The trend is toward the creation of free trade zones. This reflects clearly the will to create much greater wealth and it is on this front that we have a role to play.
In my view, it will become very important in the years ahead to create new mechanisms for sharing wealth on a global scale.
We have created a means of encouraging free trade. It behooves all of us as parliamentarians and as people who have the public good at heart, to bring forward ideas and create mechanisms that will allow us to share some of the wealth among nations that international trade and free trade helps to create.
I understand this is an extremely complex situation but the complexity of a problem does not negate the necessity to address it. The one wish I would like to leave with the government, as it is taking note tonight, is that we must put in gear efforts and thinking to create such mechanisms so that the living standards for citizens around the world will be improved.
