International Trade committee  I cannot see how this can make the living conditions in Colombia deteriorate. Regarding the drug trade, some research came out last week. It was a joint research effort of Canadian and Colombian researchers that came up with a very important result, which is that the environmental effect of our aerial eradication campaign is taking into account the environmental effect of coca production.

International Trade committee  The more opportunities there are for Colombians to do well in a market economy subject to the rule of law, the less incentive there is to get involved in the drug trade, and I think the better off all Colombians are going to be. Similarly, as you've observed, and as I have already said, I think we have a very robust groundbreaking set of side agreements, labour standards in particular, built into this agreement.

International Trade committee  We're in Afghanistan and we're spending billions of dollars. We know what the problem is. The illegal drug trade is flourishing, and yet we're there to help prevent human rights violations, help them build a stable society, and we're being told by other people, other parties, that we have to stay away because some of these similar problems exist in Colombia.

Justice committee  An example is in drug crimes, where there's no particular victim but a whole community feels that their community is at risk in some way because of drug trade in the vicinity, or their property values have gone down, or that sort of thing.

Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act  Colombia has struggled for many years with fighting paramilitaries, and with the increase in the drug trade and all the rest. It is now in the midst of an arms race, which I think has to be brought into this debate. I raised with my Liberal colleagues down the way, who seem to continue to ignore it, that after almost two decades, South America is going through an arms resurgence right now.

Public Safety committee  Yes, sir, absolutely. One of the shortcomings we have with respect to the international drug trade, for example, is that the information on Canadians who are arrested in the U.S. for being involved in the drug trade and have their DNA taken cannot be entered in the Canadian database.

International Trade committee  People are living in communities and being raised in communities where the only opportunity they have is to become engaged in the drug trade on one side or the other, either with the drug gangsters or FARC. Do you see legitimate trade as an opportunity to help wean the people of Colombia from their dependence on the economic benefits of the drug war?

International Trade committee  Any jobs or any opportunities you create are important in the struggle between legitimate activity and the drug trade, which is so powerful and so rich.

Strengthening Canada’s Corrections System Act  Sometime that day, between 3 and 4:30 p.m., members of a criminal gang executed six people with gunshots to their heads. Four were young men with established links to the drug trade, but two of them, 55-year-old Ed Schellenberg, and 22-year-old Chris Mohan, were uninvolved victims. They were innocent bystanders who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Although the perpetrators of this terrible crime have been apprehended and are now in the justice system, for the families of the victims, there is little consolation to be had.

Justice committee  She had moved to Sylvain's home to escape from them because she was tired of being beaten up, dominated, used for sex, the drug trade, etc. She had run away to my daughter's home, Sylvain's home, to hide from them. They found her. We don't know how Sylvain was involved in all of this. We never did get the truth.

Justice committee  Elsewhere in Canada, the criminal picture implicates high-profile organized crime groups with global links. In contrast, CISNS wrote that Nova Scotia's drug trade includes mainly local, independent trafficking networks. As you've heard today, and from my experience in 25 years—almost 20 of which were here in Nova Scotia—we know that the international and national folks have their paws in Nova Scotia.

Justice committee  First of all, do you have here a problem with organized crime involving legal businesses, for example in construction, where people seek to launder money from the drug trade? Secondly, in this same area, are there players who seek to discourage honest business people from tendering submissions and winning contracts for their company? This is quite an important phenomenon in the Montreal area, and I was wondering if it had spread as far as here.

International Trade committee  These agreements are about creating new opportunities for Colombians, which is so necessary as a means to address the drug trade, which is at the root of much of the violence in that country. In keeping with Canada's approach to FTAs, environmental and labour aspects of economic integration were addressed in separate labour agreements and environment agreements, as well as in chapters within the FTA.

Justice committee  I haven't seen the UN drug report, the one that was released in April, but I think I read some criticism of it as to whether it was overly optimistic in its assessment of the reduction in the drug trade internationally. Am I right about those criticisms? Are they accurate?

Afghanistan  Speaker, after eight years of fighting a war in Afghanistan, there is more corruption, more drug trade, more civilian and troop deaths and more insurgency. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans still do not have access to potable water. Everyone agrees that there is no military solution possible and that a new direction is needed.