Speech (committee meeting)

{
    "time": "2009-02-24 10:30:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Ed Holder (London West, CPC)",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"1317219\" data-originallang=\"en\">Thank you, Mr. Chairman.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317220\" data-originallang=\"en\">I'd like to thank our witnesses for being here today.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317221\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Stewart-Patterson, you said that a failure to ratify the Canada-EFTA agreement would send a profoundly negative signal about Canada's intent in pursuing closer ties with Europe. Personally, I agree with that.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317222\" data-originallang=\"en\">I'm struck by the fact that we've been in negotiations with our partners for just over ten years now. To me, it feels somewhat like the never-ending story\u2014and I'm not sure if that's our fault at the political level.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317223\" data-originallang=\"en\"> I really ask our colleagues around this table, is that our fault at the political level? I underscore this twice, because our European partners have approved this deal. We've been in negotiations for ten-plus years. For all of us who care about this country and about the Canadians who make up this country, I would like to ask the opinion of our witnesses, what is the impact, from a financial perspective, of our delaying approval of EFTA? What's the impact on the Canadian worker? What's the impact on Canadian business\u2014which, ultimately, comes down to the Canadian worker\u2014because if that's not what we're caring about when this is said and done, then why are we here? So I would respectfully ask our witnesses if they have any thoughts on the impact of delay.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"1317219\" data-originallang=\"en\">Merci, monsieur le pr\u00e9sident.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317220\" data-originallang=\"en\">J'aimerais remercier nos t\u00e9moins de leur pr\u00e9sence devant le Comit\u00e9 aujourd'hui.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317221\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur Stewart-Patterson, vous avez affirm\u00e9 que la non-ratification de l'accord Canada-AELE enverrait un signal extr\u00eamement n\u00e9gatif quant \u00e0 l'intention du Canada de forger des liens plus \u00e9troits avec l'Europe. Je suis d'accord avec cette affirmation.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317222\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le fait que nous soyons en n\u00e9gociation avec nos partenaires depuis plus de dix ans maintenant m'\u00e9tonne. Les n\u00e9gociations semblent s'\u00e9terniser, et j'ignore si cela est imputable \u00e0 notre classe politique.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1317223\" data-originallang=\"en\">Voil\u00e0 la question que je poserais \u00e0 nos coll\u00e8gues autour de cette table: Est-ce la faute de notre classe politique? J'attire votre attention sur cette question parce que nos partenaires europ\u00e9ens ont approuv\u00e9 cet accord. Il y a plus de dix ans que nous sommes en n\u00e9gociation. Pour la gouverne de tous ceux qui se soucient de ce pays et des Canadiens qui le constituent, j'aimerais demander l'opinion de nos t\u00e9moins: Quel est l'impact financier de ces d\u00e9lais dans l'approbation de l'accord? Quelles en sont les r\u00e9percussions sur les travailleurs canadiens? Quelle en est l'incidence sur les entreprises canadiennes, et donc, en fin de compte, sur les travailleurs canadiens? Car pourquoi sommes-nous ici si ce n'est pour d\u00e9fendre leurs int\u00e9r\u00eats? J'aimerais demander \u00e0 nos t\u00e9moins s'ils ont des remarques \u00e0 formuler sur l'impact de ce retard.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/committees/international-trade/40-2/4/ed-holder-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/ed-holder/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1069/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "2612106",
    "document_url": "/committees/international-trade/40-2/4/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fcommittees%2Finternational-trade%2F40-2%2F4%2F"
    }
}