Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2010-03-30 16:30:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Bill Siksay",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"1839876\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to the member for <a data-HoCid=\"128094\" href=\"/politicians/paul-szabo/\" title=\"Paul Szabo\">Mississauga South</a> just by quoting Colombian Methodist Church Bishop Juan Alberto Cardona, who was one of the first Colombians to visit Canada after this agreement was proposed. That was back in November 2007. He talked about what he considered would be the possible effects on the people of Colombia in signing this agreement. This is a direct quote from him:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839877\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Your Prime Minister and our President say that free trade will help us, but we know from other places like Mexico that these agreements might create more wealth for wealthy people, but they make inequalities worse. Whatever new wealth is created does not reach the poor people. </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839878\" data-originallang=\"en\">He really goes contrary to the whole notion that somehow signing these agreements helps the ordinary people of the country we sign the agreement with. I think he brings a significant witness to this situation. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1839879\" data-originallang=\"en\">He went on to describe the situation in Colombia, saying:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839880\" data-originallang=\"en\"> After four decades, a civil war goes on. In the past 20 years, the conflict has taken the lives of 70,000 people. Since 2002, when Alvaro Uribe became president, more than a million additional people have become internally displaced </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839881\" data-originallang=\"en\">So there are very, very serious consequences, and I do not think there is any evidence that signing this kind of agreement will help the people of Colombia.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"1839876\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, en r\u00e9ponse aux propos du d\u00e9put\u00e9 de <a data-HoCid=\"128094\" href=\"/politicians/paul-szabo/\" title=\"Paul Szabo\">Mississauga-Sud</a>, je citerai simplement l'\u00e9v\u00eaque de l'\u00c9glise m\u00e9thodiste de Colombie, Juan Alberto Cardona, qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 l'un des premiers Colombiens \u00e0 visiter le Canada apr\u00e8s que cet accord ait \u00e9t\u00e9 propos\u00e9. C'\u00e9tait en novembre 2007. Il a parl\u00e9 de ce qu'il consid\u00e9rait comme les effets possibles de la signature de cet accord sur le peuple de Colombie. Voici textuellement ce qu'il a dit:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839877\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Votre premier ministre et notre Pr\u00e9sident disent que le libre-\u00e9change nous aidera, mais l\u2019exemple d\u2019autres endroits, tels que le Mexique, nous a appris que des accords de la sorte sont susceptibles de cr\u00e9er davantage de richesse pour les riches, mais qu\u2019ils accentuent les in\u00e9galit\u00e9s. Quelle que soit la nouvelle richesse, elle ne profite pas aux populations pauvres. </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839878\" data-originallang=\"en\">Il s'oppose vraiment \u00e0 l'id\u00e9e voulant que la conclusion de ces accords aide les personnes ordinaires des pays avec qui nous les signons. Je pense qu'il est un t\u00e9moin important de cette situation.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"1839879\" data-originallang=\"en\">Il a poursuivi en d\u00e9crivant la situation en Colombie en ces termes:</p>\n<blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839880\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Une guerre civile s\u00e9vit encore apr\u00e8s quatre d\u00e9cennies. Au cours des 20 derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, le conflit a co\u00fbt\u00e9 la vie \u00e0 70 000 personnes. Depuis 2002, lorsque Alvaro Uribe est devenu pr\u00e9sident, plus d\u2019un million d\u2019autres personnes ont \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9plac\u00e9es dans le pays [...] </p>\n</blockquote><p data-HoCid=\"1839881\" data-originallang=\"en\">Il y a donc des cons\u00e9quences tr\u00e8s, tr\u00e8s graves, et je ne pense pas que l'on puisse d\u00e9montrer que la signature de cet accord va aider le peuple de la Colombie.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2010/3/30/bill-siksay-2/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/bill-siksay/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/1264/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "3072017",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Government Orders",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2010/3/30/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2010%2F3%2F30%2F"
    }
}