Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I would certainly welcome a visit from all of you. I hope you can come to Beijing. As I said, it's my plan to return to Canada every six to eight weeks, so I would be happy to provide reports from time to time if that is your desire.

Foreign Affairs committee  As I said in my opening comments, we certainly have a keen interest in the integrity of Hong Kong's autonomous institutions under the one country, two systems formula. I know there are some stresses and strains on that. We do what we can to support that. We have 300,000 Canadian

Foreign Affairs committee  I have some experience in issues with temporary foreign workers and immigration from my previous job.

Foreign Affairs committee  No doubt that will be an issue in the free trade negotiations. I have not yet had discussions on that subject. I remember from my old days about the temporary foreign worker issue that exploded with public reaction some years ago. I remember one of the issues was that you had a

Foreign Affairs committee  I live in Beijing now. Beijing is well known around the world for its bad air. The people who live there notice that. Now, to be fair to Beijing, I've been there five weeks and the air has been great. The skies have been blue and the weather has been wonderful. I'm sure that won'

Foreign Affairs committee  I know a bit about that.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think they're central to it. As you said, I know a bit about it. I've said ad nauseam that 40% of my electorates in Markham were Chinese, so I know that community well, and I think they are a very important bridge to China. When groups from Canada visit China, they contain many

Foreign Affairs committee  It was my pleasure.

Foreign Affairs committee  If you talk too long about what you're going to talk about, you won't have any time left to talk.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. I have nothing against British Columbia. All I'm saying is that some of the wood might also come from other places, such as Quebec and other provinces.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that's what we're doing. We're having these exploratory talks with China. We've just completed a European free trade agreement. We're having talks with India, and no doubt with other countries around the world, and we want it to be a progressive deal. Three things we ha

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a pleasure.

Foreign Affairs committee  Human rights are a central, essential concern of the Canadian government. We talk about that inside the embassy every day. We spend a lot of time on consular issues. It is fundamental to what we do. On your question of engaging, as I think I said in my comments, you don't not t

Foreign Affairs committee  I have been there for five weeks and have had quite a few meetings, but I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss that. This abstention regarding Syria is a very good gesture I think, as our Minister of Foreign Affairs has said; she will be in China over the next few months

Foreign Affairs committee  Good morning.