Hon. David P. Smith:

Honourable senators, I rise today in support of Bill C-2, an act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, the Agreement on Labour Cooperation and the Agreement on the Environment entered into by Canada with the Republic of Colombia on November 21 of 2008.

Honourable senators, I want to state that the Liberal Party supports this legislation. We support the initiatives that improve market access for Canadian business and particularly in a situation where increased economic engagement will help strengthen Canada's influence on Colombia in the area of human rights.

First I would like to talk about the history of this bill. This journey goes back to 2002, when the Liberals were in power and the then Minister for International Trade was the Honourable Pierre Pettigrew. He announced that Canada and the Andean countries — that is Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela — had agreed to begin exploring the possibility of a free trade agreement.

I have had the opportunity to visit four of these countries. The irony is that the one country I have not visited is Colombia.

The countries launched exploratory discussions in November of that year, met on four occasions, and there were some pretty frank and open exchanges on a wide number of issues. As part of the process, the Minister for International Trade held domestic consultations with business, citizen-based organizations, individual Canadians, as well as provincial and territorial governments. All indications pointed to a broad support for a free trade agreement.

Not all of the Andean community countries were in a position to move forward on the free trade negotiations at the same pace, but Canada proceeded to negotiate with Colombia and Peru, who were ready and willing, and so free trade negotiations began. The Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement came into force on August 1 of 2009. The Canada-Colombia agreement was signed in November of 2008, as I said earlier.

Honourable senators, I believe — and our party believes — that ratifying this trade agreement involves little economic risk for Canadian industry. Existing Colombian tariffs on Canadian exports are significantly higher than Canadian tariffs on Colombian exports. The agreement will benefit Canadian businesses and we support initiatives that improve market access for them.

Canada and Colombia are complementary economies. There is little direct competition between the two economies as we produce and export different goods. How much are we talking about? The two-way Canada-Colombia merchandise trade represents approximately $1.35 billion per year, and that is the 2008 figure. Of that, Canada exported $703 million to Colombia, primarily in cars, other motor vehicles manufactured goods, wheat, paper and pulses. Our imports were about $644 million from Colombia in goods such as coffee, bananas, coal, oil, sugar and flowers. Therefore, the balance is in our favour.

This agreement will eliminate tariffs on Canadian exports to help make Canadian goods more competitive in a range of sectors, including mining, agricultural products and agri-food products.

While Canadian businesses will greatly benefit from the agreement, free trade will also have a positive impact on Colombians. Colombia has had its share of problems and we hear about them frequently. The drug trade, corruption and human rights violations have been part of life in Colombia. Critics of this bill point to these as reasons for not proceeding with the bill. However, there are many ways to promote human rights. We believe that increased economic and political engagement and having a bona fide economy will help address the root causes of violence and improve the human rights situation in Colombia.

While Colombia has made progress toward reducing violence and human rights abuses, there is still a long way to go. However, achieving further progress in Colombia depends on growing Colombia's legitimate economy. Through free trade, Canada can help to build that legitimate economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Colombians, including the most vulnerable.

Human rights are at the core of Liberal values. Therefore, our colleague in the other place, the Honourable Scott Brison, worked with the Colombian government to agree to specific human rights reporting requirements on the part of both countries. The Colombian government agreed and, on March 24, so did the Canadian government. As a result, Canada and Colombia signed a treaty requiring both countries to report to their own parliaments on how the free trade agreements are impacting human rights in their respective country, as well as in the other country.

The human rights aspect and these reporting mechanisms that have been agreed upon were crucial and a catalyst in making the overall package happen.

When the Colombian minister was in Ottawa several weeks ago, I attended the briefing and the question and answer session that Scott Brison convened for Liberal parliamentarians because I was quite interested in the subject.

In Canada, this gives Parliament the tools to better engage civil society groups, businesses, and other experts in both Canada and Colombia. It strengthens the public's ability to monitor the human rights situation in Colombia, and holds both governments accountable on an ongoing basis.

Honourable senators, this is the first human rights reporting requirement in any free trade agreement in the world. It sets a new gold standard for human rights reporting in free trade agreements. The amendment was motivated by a desire for greater public oversight in the area of human rights and the belief that human rights are deeply intertwined with economic opportunity.

As with Canada's free trade agreements with Chile and Costa Rica, and NAFTA, the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement includes side agreements on labour cooperation and the environment. With the labour agreement, both countries agree to respect and enforce internationally recognized labour standards and principles, such as the right to freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, the abolition of child labour, the elimination of forced or compulsory labour, and the elimination of discrimination.

In view of these side agreements on labour cooperation and the environment, I think it is disappointing that the NDP has, once again, chosen not to support a free trade agreement. I cannot resist pointing out the following facts. First, the NDP have opposed all of Canada's free trade agreements. The NDP is calling for an independent and comprehensive human rights impact assessment, but the NDP already does not believe that the agreements on labour cooperation and the environment will be effective. Furthermore, they argue that the agreements will enable large multinational corporations to exploit Colombian workers.

Now, I know a lot of people in the NDP; most of them are fine, decent people with good principles and they believe in what they say, but, regrettably. the NDP always agree with whatever the Canadian labour unions say. That is a reality and I think it is regrettable. They favour keeping the Canadian tariffs higher so that it hurts us in eliminating tariffs on our exports.

Honourable senators, I believe in a free enterprise system. It works. Sure, there are controls on it. About 30 years ago, as an MP at the time, I was the Canadian delegate on a committee that met for several summers in Vienna studying disability. On the weekends, we would sometimes go to different cities. I had gone behind the Iron Curtain a number of times, going back as far as 1969. One weekend, we went to Prague. The life on the streets was dead; it seemed grey. Beautiful buildings were there, but the city was kind of dead. About three weeks ago, I took my wife there before we got on a boat to go down the Rhine on a wine cruise. We spent two days in Prague. Twenty-nine years later, the life on the streets was buzzing. There was economic activity everywhere — in the stores and shops, and with the tourists. It was unbelievable. There is no other city with as many statutes on buildings as Prague. They are beautiful.

Prague's previous version was a socialist version. Regrettably, it was the most extreme form of socialism, namely, communism in its totalitarian state. I will never forget when we left to come back in 1981 and crossed the Czechoslovakian border into Austria. Looking up at the border fence, one saw a tower on each side with a couple of men with guns that were pointing inward. I remember thinking that a society where the guns at the border are pointing inward has a much bigger problem than when the guns at the border are pointing outward to defend itself.

Today there are no check stations; one just drives through at the border because of the Economic Union.

There are certain realities that our friends in the NDP will have to come to grips with. One of them is that we live in a global economy. If one is not competitive, then one will not make it. We want to be competitive. This is a situation where human rights scrutiny were tied to the changes that got rid of the tariffs.

At the risk of sounding corny, honourable senators, I like it when the two major parties see eye to eye on issues such as this one. The Bloc also opposed this for vague reasons that I will not get into. Quite frankly, I want to give a good chunk of the credit to Scott Brison, who has managed this in a non-partisan way. He was there and achieved a united front on this issue.

Trade with Colombia is already taking place but without a rules-based system to encourage stronger labour rules and human rights. This agreement will give muscle to the effort to have stronger rules on labour and the environment, which can only help Colombia.

We have examined these free trade agreements and the provisions in the side agreements. I think the agreements are in the best interests of both countries. Much progress has been made.

In closing, I want to read an email addressed to Member of Parliament Scott Brison that he gave to me today:

I want to add my sincere thanks and congratulations. This is an excellent example of how a first-rate MP can make an invaluable contribution. I was in Washington last week where the business people with whom I spoke were in despair about their lack of progress on this issue.

It is signed by former Conservative minister Perrin Beatty on behalf of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. I like it when we see representatives from the two major parties put partisan issues aside to do what is in the best interests of this country. That is why we support this legislation.

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