Hidden between the lines of the federal budget’s typically short section on trade policy is the assertion that the “competitiveness of Canadian businesses in the international marketplace will be enhanced by breaking down barriers to trade, both internal and abroad, and providing the appropriate tools and policy framework that allow…
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On Monday, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that Canada and the European Union had finished the “legal scrub” of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Now, she said, the path is clear for speedy ratification of the deal in the Canadian and European parliaments. As Thomas Walkom points…
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Today WikiLeaks posted the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) intellectual property chapter hammered out at the TPP ministerial meeting in Atlanta last weekend. While the chapter is not as bad as previous leaked drafts, and falls short of the most extreme demands from the brand-name drug industry and…
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The supply management system for Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg farmers has come under sustained attack by conservative economists, big agribusinesses and foreign governments, who would like to see these sectors fully liberalized, putatively in the interest of the “consumer.” The attacks become especially fiery around trade negotiations like the…
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Last week I spoke along with Maude Barlow and Paul Moist at a well-attended public meeting in Charlottetown on the Canada – European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The PEI meeting was the last stop in a cross-country tour by Maude and Paul. Here are my opening remarks….
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The recent decision by the European Union (EU) to disregard Canadian government pressure and forge ahead with regulations that recognise the higher green-house-gas intensity of fuel produced from tar sands and oil shale is encouraging. But, as reported in today’s Globe and Mail, the Canadian government is still lobbying furiously…
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No one should be surprised that a Buy American provision has been included in the American Jobs Act, President Obama’s new job creation bill. Such provisions have been standard features of U.S. infrastructure spending and procurement legislation for decades. Despite the economic importance of this bill, there is a lot…
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The Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was a hot topic of debate at the recent Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) annual conference, held in Halifax. Leading up to the June 3-6 conference, the Union of BC Municipalities called on the FCM to seek a “clear, permanent exemption” for…
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