CANADA-PANAMA ECONOMIC GROWTH AND PROSPERITY ACT  We should not be negotiating trade agreements with countries like Panama that do not allow us to see where this money is going when there is a problem that, collectively as the Americas, we are trying to solve. Canada cannot turn a blind eye to this extremely destructive source of illegal drug trade and the systems that facilitate that trade, such as Panama's tax havens. The NDP cannot support this bill. We have tried to propose amendments to it. For example, my colleague from Burnaby—New Westminster proposed amendments on sustainable development and responsible investment.

CANADA-PANAMA ECONOMIC GROWTH AND PROSPERITY ACT  Signing free trade agreements are good and I believe in free in trade but I also believe in using the leverage that Canada should have to ensure we are doing our job of protecting Canadians and our companies, eliminating opportunities for money laundering and the drug trade, and all the rest. My colleague for Scarborough—Guildwood had introduced his bill on what goes on in mining. All kinds of exploitation happen around the country and these agreements need to be clear.

Public Safety committee  In last fiscal year, the Office received 20,000 calls on its toll-free number and conducted over 1,200 uses of force reviews. The office acknowledges that the institutional drug trade, which includes the improper use of prescription drugs, is a major source of institutional violence. The drug trade is often controlled or influenced by gang activity and the presence of organized crime.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There is a large population of boys in China, and now they are harvesting, so to speak, women to be brought into China, legally and illegally, as wives for these husbands. The AIDS epidemic is horrendous in the northern part. The drug trade has always been quite extensive in both northern Thailand and Myanmar, where it is used as currency. A lot of people are involved in drugs in those areas. I mean, there is much more.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I just wanted to drop down to the bottom of that page to state and draw to your attention that human trafficking, AIDS, persecution, the drug trade, child enslavement, adult slavery, political prisoners, and so on and so forth, are still quite prominent within the country. Also, there is the lack of open doors for the UN and NGOs to enter the country and to help out.

Justice committee  That underscores the concerns we have that we're going down the road others have gone on. We're going to have people.... The complexities of the drug trade, we understand that. There are people at the top who are making the organized efforts, and they're the ones who are benefiting. The ones who are at the bottom, at the lower level, are the ones who are likely to be picked up by these mandatory minimums.

Public Safety committee  Being a deputy superintendent in corrections, I watched inmates build bank accounts, quite healthy bank accounts in fact, from illegitimate purposes within the correctional centre. It ties into another study we just recently were working on with the illicit drug trade inside of correctional centres. When you see an inmate come in with nothing and then accumulate $500, $600, $700 in an account, and then not pay child support, not do these things, and you know that money has been gained through illegitimate purposes within the correctional centre, it seems a shame to me that we don't have an opportunity to be able to reach in and move that money away to legitimate victims.

Justice committee  The coalition is made up of civil society organizations from across the country that work to reduce harms from substance use and the drug trade in Canada. It includes representatives from the research community, front-line service providers, groups representing people who use drugs, parents, youth, academics, law enforcement, public health professionals, and others.

The Budget  Many, including the police, have associated this is in a large way to a boom town having increased drug trade which attracts crime. Meanwhile, Alberta taxpayers are being downloaded with the bulk of the cost to build the government's desired new prisons. Where are the benefits to Alberta of the impacts of the oil sands?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Venezuela is not a producer, and as Mexico and Colombia crack down, downstream elements of the drug trade could be moving into Venezuela on the transit side. Still another possibility is that, ironically, as economic growth increases, crime seems to increase. That is counterintuitive, but it's the way it seems to be going.

Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act  I would rather work with the Panamanian government or any government in Central or Latin America on public security, the drug trade or human trafficking, rather than discipline it or lecture to it. The member would prefer to go and lecture to Panama about all the things that are wrong with Panama. I would rather go down there and work with the Panamanians to try to understand the issues and help them achieve results and improve their governance.

Justice committee  But over 50% were in B.C., and I would suggest most of those would be drug-related complaints, or people who are involved in the drug trade with organized crime.

Canada-Panama Free Trade Act  Desperate people will make their livings in the only way they know how. The best way to liberate them from the tyranny of the drug trade is to provide legitimate economic opportunity. I also met with President Calderon last week from Mexico. One of the things President Calderon and his security advisers told me was that the success of President Uribe in Colombia, in the Colombia Plan with the United States, in stamping out the drug trade has led to the drug trade growing in Mexico.

Canada-Panama Economic Growth and Prosperity Act  Why would we not build into our base model for trade with Panama the ability to influence, in order to end that type of practice? If we did that, we would have a greater effect on the drug trade, organized crime and corporate responsibility. A series of measures would allow Canadians to compete, while also helping to deal with these issues around the globe. We have an opportunity to do this.

Public Safety committee  Can you just elaborate on that? What are the driving factors for gangs in prisons in relation to the drug trade?