International Trade committee  I'll just offer two points. We did anticipate this debate when the FTA was being highly debated within the Americas and we did produce a document because we felt it was important. It was not just to be critical. You have to have some alternatives to suggest, and we did suggest that there are things that government can do.

International Trade committee  I think that had to do with our strategy around negotiations to a large degree, to be very candid. I don't think it's impossible. Had we chosen to do so, we wouldn't have achieved the same success as the U.S. in their negotiations. There has been a change in thinking in the U.S., because they have evolved along the same path we have in negotiating a free trade agreement.

International Trade committee  No, I don't think there is a particular clause that I could point to.

International Trade committee  I would argue that the premise of the agreement is based on the premise of all other free trade agreements we've negotiated, and we think that's a flawed approach. Again, I will come back to the point that you started with. We got into this economic crisis because the levers of government to regulate the financial industry were taken away or abandoned.

International Trade committee  Thank you for your question. I think that is an appropriate point. There is no question, given the evolution of our negotiations with country and free trade agreements, that the labour side of the agreement has always been dealt with as an addendum to the agreement. It's not a core part of the trade agreement.

International Trade committee  Thanks. In regard to the point that Mr. Cannis has made, I'm not saying that we should bury our heads in the sand and not have trading relationships with other countries. As a matter of fact, the congress clearly recognizes the importance of trade to Canadian jobs. There's no denying that.

International Trade committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the 3.2 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, we thank you for affording us the opportunity to present our views. CLC brings together national and international unions along with provincial and territorial federations of labour and a labour council of 137 district labour councils from across the country.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, just very briefly, I want to again thank the committee. I think there were some very thoughtful questions about the process here. I just want to end.... I know that quite often we indulge in partisan bickering about these matters. I just want to make a plea to the committee members, because I know we all have good intentions in terms of what our immigration policy should be.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, that is the way to build our country and our economy.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would say that's a failure of our own policy, as a government.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Quite possible.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes and no. Not everybody who has come here as an immigrant has had a job. There was no promise of a job.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's true.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  If we bring people as engineers, we should try to incorporate them so that they can work in their field.