Mr. Speaker, I do have a question on Bill C-8.
The member for Elmwood—Transcona talked about fair trade. Many our ridings are suffering from things like the softwood lumber issue. In my riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan jobs have been shipped south as raw logs are shipped south because we simply do not do enough to protect our local jobs.
In particular, my question is on the environment side of the agreement. I know the member touched upon it briefly, but my understanding of the agreement is there are some problems because the environment agreement is essentially toothless.
It says that both countries would be required not to weaken their environmental regulations in order to attract investment. Both countries would be required to enforce their existing environmental regulations. To this end, mechanisms will be established to ensure environmental impact assessments occur for proposed projects. It goes on to talk about the fact that interested parties could request the government to investigate alleged violations.
Could the member comment more fully on what he would like to see in a fair trade agreement that would truly look at the environmental impact?