Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  The Conservatives and the Liberals say that this will improve trade. One point that was raised earlier was that the fierce and violent drug trade in Colombia would somehow be alleviated by the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement. I would point to Mexico. Mexico signed on to an extensive trade deal with this country and the United States.

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  There was an absolute inability by the Minister of Justice to provide one study that backs up that mandatory minimum sentences have any positive effect whatsoever on the illegal drug trade, that they have any effect whatsoever on the security of our communities, that they make any difference to the illegal drug trade in Canada. We have gone over this time and time again.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  It is exactly the opposite to what the member for Vancouver Quadra contended. I have referenced the fact before that President Uribe has clear ties with the drug trade and was elected with drug trade money as the BBC reported. How does the member for Edmonton—Strathcona think that kind of tie would play with Albertans who, like everyone else, are opposed to any sort of privileged relationship with an administration that was built on the drug trade?

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  From the evidence we have heard repeatedly from our police forces, including the evidence we heard in the committee hearings for this bill, we know that the vast majority of people who are going to be caught by this legislation, who are going to be imprisoned for mandatory minimum periods of time, anywhere from six months to three years, are by and large users of drugs, whether marijuana or stronger drugs, who have gotten caught up in the whole cycle, the whole under-life of the drug trade, and who are in fact trafficking in order to feed their habit. I think it is appropriate that we think about and understand how organized crime has taken over, almost exclusively, all of the drug trade in this country, and to a significant degree right across the globe.

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  We know we will not change drug crime and gang crime in Canada unless we go to the profitability of the drug trade in Canada. There is nothing in the legislation that addresses why people make so much money selling drugs in Canada. There is nothing in it that says that somebody we put away for a minimum mandatory sentence will not return to the drug trade after that.

International Trade committee  You're talking about two different things in the sense that the economic value of the drug trade and the economic value of the extractive industries are of themselves not the same as an index of employment or the distribution of that economic activity--and I think the drug trade is probably as highly centralized as the extractive industries in terms of the risks and the benefits.

International Trade committee  But in the absence of legitimate economic trade around such sectors as the extraction sector, people will choose the drug trade as the only way they have to make a living. Do you not agree that a substantial part, if not the majority, of the displacement occurring in Colombia is a result of the drug trade?

International Trade committee  Both paramilitary groups and guerrilla groups finance their terrorist activities today with the proceeds of the drug trade. Before 2000, before the start of Plan Colombia, FARC and the paramilitary groups didn't have a strong hold on the drug trade. Nowadays they are the two main drug producers in Colombia and they are also engaged in the initial stages of drug trafficking.

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act  As its first principle, we must all agree to that. The organized crime intervention within the drug trade is causing ruination and havoc within our communities. We must do away with the concept and idea that this sits only within the urban centres of Canada. In the northwest of British Columbia, as in northern Alberta where my friend from Fort McMurray comes from, the encouragement of the organized drug trade does not know the bounds of a city limit.

CANADA-COLOMBIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT  Unfortunately, because Colombians do not have access to the global economy the same as other countries, they have been forced into narco-trafficking and the drug trade to make money. There is very little else for Colombians to do. We can continue to force them into narco-trafficking or we can actually help them find jobs in other areas. We have to really look at the individuals in the Uribe government.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Paramilitaries are illegal armies that fund their operations through Colombia's illegal drug trade and illegal contributions from some companies like Chiquita Brands International. The paras have been classified as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government, along with other armed groups, such as the FARC leftist guerrillas.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Rather than helping or strengthening the Mexican economy in rural areas, the NAFTA agreement has done exactly the opposite. It has led to the colombianization of rural Mexico and an explosion of the drug trade. Could he comment on that? We are hearing the same old bromides that this agreement will help Colombians when there has been absolutely no due diligence, no impartial human rights assessment.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  I heard my hon. colleague from Kings—Hants talk about when he was in Colombia and how he met individuals who joined the military or the other group because there were no other economic opportunities and thus they may have slipped into the drug trade and so on. If free trade, in the eyes of the government, were to prevent that from happening, what is going on in Mexico right now where we have a NAFTA deal with that country and there are thousands upon thousands of people involved in the drug trade.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  They joined FARC because the only job they could find was something to do with either the war or the drug trade. Does the hon. member see the potential of the legitimate economy and legitimate economic trade with Colombia as providing opportunities for these people so that they do not have to go into either the drug trade or a civil war?

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  I am wondering if the member has any response to those who suggest that a trade deal with Colombia at this time would have any meaningful impact on the drug trade in Colombia.