Hon. Joan Fraser:

Honourable senators, I thank the leader for informing us that 30 per cent of the people who were sent the form did not fill it out. However, my question for the Leader of the Government in the Senate is on another matter.

Last month I had the honour of being part of a delegation of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association visiting Strasbourg and Copenhagen, because Denmark is the incoming president of the European Union. We were very interested in discussions about the comprehensive economic and free trade agreement that is now being negotiated with the European Union.

In a way, we were even more interested to learn that along with the free trade agreement that we are all aware is being negotiated, Canada and the European Union are negotiating what is called a ''political framework treaty.'' This was not something that any of us had ever heard anything about before. Although I cannot say that I have surveyed 100 per cent of the senators, those here to whom I did speak were equally unaware that a political framework treaty was being negotiated with the European Union. The goal is to have it negotiated by the end of this year, before the trade agreement.

We had slightly varying descriptions of what might be in this agreement. Clearly, Canada is not negotiating to become a member of the European Union, but beyond that it was not quite clear what a political framework treaty with Europe would include. Some people said it would just be apple pie and motherhood, affirming our adherence to common democratic values. Other people seemed to think it could even go so far as addressing the elements that are not in the free trade agreement, because we could not get agreement in the trade negotiations.

What can the leader tell us about this political framework treaty?

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