A steak dinner at a Bogota restaurant called Andres and dancing that went well into the night one Friday last August led to the free-trade agreement between Canada and Colombia that is now before Parliament.
Liberal international trade critic Scott Brison was doing the dancing – he’s “one of the few gay men in the world who can’t really dance,” he said. He’s also one of the few opposition MPs – if not the only one – who can do trade deals with a foreign government.
“In this case, we actually initiated discussions with a foreign government,” Mr. Brison said. This is not a usual occurrence on Parliament Hill.
But it just so happens that Mr. Brison is a good friend of Luis Plata, Colombia’s Trade Minister.
It was Mr. Plata and his wife, Lyana, who took Mr. Brison out dancing. He was out so late he almost missed his flight back to Canada the next morning.
“At the end of the day, trade relations or foreign relations are based on human relations,” he said.
At 42, Mr. Brison and Mr. Plata are the same age, and are at similar stages in their careers. They met four years ago at an international conference.
“We hit it off,” said Mr. Plata in a telephone interview this week.
And the two men believe that this deal – and the way in which it is structured, allowing for an amendment calling on the two countries to produce annual human rights reports – would not have happened had it not been for their friendship.
“I think the level of trust that we had and the fact that we could sit down and discuss things openly and understand the issues,” said Mr. Plata. “I think it all helped out.”
Between the dancing and the dining, Mr. Brison and Mr. Plata discussed a deal the Liberals could live with in terms of addressing human rights abuses.
Mr. Brison suggested the amendment; Mr. Plata said his government would be open to one.
And for the next few months, in discussions that took place on three different continents – Asia (China,) Europe and North America – the two hammered it out.
Two months ago, Mr. Plata arranged for Mr. Brison to meet with Colombian president Alvaro Uribe at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where he presented the wording of the amendment.
The Harper government had no idea any of this was going on, said Mr. Brison, until last week.
By accepting the Liberal amendment, the government now has the votes it needs to pass this $1.3-billion two-way trade deal through Parliament. It’s expected to be in the Commons trade committee in the next two weeks.
The NDP doesn’t like it, however. Trade critic Peter Julian raised issues about Colombia’s human rights record this week in Question Period.
“Liberals and Conservatives do not care that Colombia has a worsening record of human rights abuses and is the worst in the world for killing of labour activists, with links to the violence going right up into the government itself,” Mr. Julian said.
For his part, Mr. Plata acknowledged that Colombia comes “from a very, very violent past.”
He said, however, his country has made progress over the past few years, noting that its homicide rate is now below that of Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and even Washington.
And he defended his government’s actions in trying to protect union members and to prosecute those who harm them.
“Violence stems obviously from lack of opportunity and poverty,” Mr. Plata said. “So the way we see these trade agreements is that we are not asking Canada for aid or help. We are asking for opportunities for business and trade.
“And we believe the more trade we have … that’s the way we create more jobs … and that’s the way to really fight the violence.”
(Photos: Reuters)
