The stated objective of the Government of Canada is to create “the most favourable conditions for Canadian businesses to compete internationally. Free trade agreements (FTAs) and foreign investment promotion and protection agreements (FIPAs) between Canada and our trading partners are creating new opportunities for Canadian businesses. By ensuring greater protection against discriminatory and arbitrary practices, and enhancing the predictability of a market, FTAs and FIPAs provide a competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace.
Canada has free trade agreements [FTAs] in force with more than 10 countries, which provide a competitive advantage across a wide range of sectors. In addition, we’ve begun negotiations with more than 60 countries, including some of the world’s key markets.”
Canada-India FTA Enters Fifth Round Of Negotiations -
(Weekly Voice) Ever since Stephen Harper came to power in Ottawa, Canada has signed a host of these deals with many countries, and is very close to inking the most ambitious one with the EU. Very soon, Canada will have pretty much the whole world in its Free Trade ambit. Minister Fast admits, “Yes, Canada has embarked on the most ambitious free trade program in its history. We will sign off only on those agreements that we are confident are in Canada’s interest. He clarified though that Canada is currently not negotiating a similar agreement with China.
China-Canada FIPA prompts Brenda Sayers’ eastern tour
Brenda Sayers has never been to eastern Canada before, but her fight on behalf of her First Nation, the Hupacasath of Vancouver Island, against the China-Canada trade agreement, paved the way.
The Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) is the trade agreement Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed last September in Russia, with then Chinese President Hu Jintao. The two leaders were in Russia at the time for the APEC summit. The agreement has yet to be ratified by the Canadian Parliament.
The deal will have far-reaching effects in Canada. It will alter the ability of Canadians to decide on the best interests of the country in areas of resource management for example. If a group of Canadians oppose the interests of a Chinese company, there is an “investor state arbitration clause” that allows China to sue Canada on the grounds of interfering with their ability to make a profit. The dispute will then be decided by a secret 3-member tribunal. The agreement will be in force for 31 years.
Brenda Sayers says the FIPA “removes power from the provinces, it removes power from the municipalities to make laws that would protect their citizens.”
14 August
Lee Berthiaume: Feds struggling to realize free-trade aspirations, review finds
The Harper government isn’t putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to free trade, an internal review suggests.
The Conservatives have made free trade a central plank of their economic plan since coming to power seven years ago.
This has involved launching or joining negotiations with more than a dozen countries or economic blocs, including India, Japan, Morocco, the European Union and a group of Asia-Pacific nations collectively known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
But in their review, officials within the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development identified budget cuts and hiring freezes as challenges affecting Canada’s ability to successfully negotiate free trade deals.
They also cited questions about the government’s readiness “to make difficult decisions regarding sensitive trade policy issues” as an obstacle to accomplishing its trade objectives. …
“Although the government will say trade is their major plank, there’s a significant lack of strategic thinking,” said Liberal trade critic Wayne Easter. “Those trade agreements with Jordan and others are important, but they don’t mean much in terms of economic gain for the country.”
The officials noted in their review that the Foreign Affairs unit responsible for trade negotiations had its budget cut by $2.2 million and 13 positions eliminated in fiscal year 2009-10. (14 August)
13 August
Update: Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
Canada joined the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), along with Mexico, on October 8, 2012 (see News Release: Canada welcomes formal entry into Trans-Pacific Partnership). The TPP currently comprises Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Round 18 was held in Malaysia from July 15-25, 2013 (for more information, see background information on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement Negotiations).
The 19th round of TPP negotiations will be held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei from August 22-30, 2013.
9 August
Canada-EU trade talks at ‘danger point,’ Charest says
Former Quebec premier urges PM to step in and finalize European deal
Canada has reached a “danger point” in its free-trade negotiations with the European Union and it is time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to step in and get a deal done, says former Quebec premier Jean Charest.
In an interview with CBC Radio’s The House airing Saturday, Charest, who was instrumental in getting Canada-EU talks off the ground, warns “there’s a danger point for us right now because Europe and the U.S. have launched their negotiations.”
Charest fears that could sidetrack Canada’s negotiations with the EU and he’s sounding the alarm over the Conservative government’s inability to seal a deal.
27 July
Harper’s world view
(Ottawa Citizen editorial) “(W)e all understand that Canada is not some island on which we can live in splendid and peaceful isolation.”
It is certainly true that the Conservatives are not afraid to choose sides on a number of questions, and that they have simply flubbed a few international files. But Harper is not without foreign policy fans. They argue that, unlike the Liberals, the Tories more closely match rhetoric and action, and what we have now is a necessary pragmatism — think of the focus on international trade, on the resource sector and energy deals — that puts Canada’s interests first even at the risk of offending others.
24 July
Conservative government looking to bolster Canada’s arms trade with developing countries
The Conservative government is looking to ease restrictions on the sale of weapons and military equipment to Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea in what is believed to be the latest effort to bolster Canada’s arms exports.
While the defence industry will applaud the move and say it will lead to more jobs and economic prosperity for Canadians, others are questioning whether selling guns to developing countries is the wisest and best way for Canada to make a buck.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development quietly launched consultations Wednesday asking for feedback on its plan to add those four countries to what is called the Automatic Firearms Country Control List.
3 July
EU envoy prods Canada to finalize free trade deal
European access for Canadian beef still a sticking point
(CBC) Four months ago, hopes were high that the protracted negotiations might be coming to a close when trade and agriculture ministers met in Ottawa. However, the long-awaited agreement has so far failed to materialize.
Jeffrey Simpson: We have pandas, but no trade deal with China
A little over a year ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper returned from a trip to China with a promise of two pandas and an offer of free-trade talks with the world’s fastest-growing economy.
The pandas are now eating bamboo in a Toronto zoo, but the free-trade idea has been lowered into the ground. …
When China made its free-trade offer, the Harper government responded cautiously, as was appropriate given the enormity of the task posed by such negotiations. First, both sides needed to complete a “complementarity review,” a study examining whether their economies are compatible for free trade. That was completed more than six months ago, signalling that yes, there were promising grounds for negotiations. Since then, nothing.
Ottawa has so many trade negotiations under way – with the European Union, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, India and Japan – that it lacks the capacity to undertake anything as ambitious as negotiations with China. Similarly, the Conservative caucus and even some ministers are decidedly lukewarm about China. And public opinion, according to the Pew Center and surveys done for the Asia-Pacific Foundation, is ambivalent.
The ambivalence, coupled with serious skepticism in the Conservative “base,” has suffocated interest in the Chinese offer.
The same attitudes are behind the Harper government’s refusal to ratify an investment protection protocol it had sought with China.
25 June
Canada-Korea – Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
A bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea could deliver significant commercial benefits across many sectors of the Canadian economy. In addition to generating benefits for Canadian consumers, an FTA with South Korea would better enable Canadian companies to tap into global value chains, take advantage of increased export opportunities, and employ South Korea as a strategic base for expanding their presence in Northeast Asia.
Update on negotiations
Canada and Korea met for a thirteenth round of negotiations toward a Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA) in Ottawa, March 25-28, 2008. The negotiations were well-advanced, but reached an impasse on a limited number of issues.
The resumption of Canadian beef exports to Korea in early 2012 was an important development in the bilateral relationship and created positive momentum. Building on this momentum, Canada and Korea have been actively engaged in discussions with a view to concluding in the FTA negotiations.
18 June
Leaders downplay reports of stalled Canada-EU trade talks
EU spokesperson suggests Canada not showing enough ‘pragmatism and flexibility’
Both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his British counterpart, David Cameron, downplayed signs of trouble in the Canada-EU trade negotiations Tuesday, even as the European Union’s spokesman suggested Canada hasn’t shown enough “pragmatism and flexibility” at the table.
On Monday at the G8 talks in Northern Ireland, the EU and the U.S. announced the start of their own bilateral trade negotiations, even though the EU’s negotiations with Canada aren’t finished yet.
13 June
A rather serious setback for Canadian trade’: Harper ends EU trip unable to clinch deal
(Financial Post) Prime Minister Stephen Harper concludes his eight-day European trip unable to complete a trade agreement with the European Union, just as the opening of EU-U.S. talks raises the risk that Canada will be left out.
10 May
Canada-EU trade talks hung up on beef market access issue
Both sides deny Canada’s objection to proposed EU fuel directive impacting trade talks
[EU ambassador Matthias] Brinkmann suggested that most other issues in the four-year talks have been resolved or are close to being resolved, and that two specific sticking points — how much Canadian beef to Europe and how much European cheese to Canada — is keeping the sides from a deal. …
Fuel directive dispute continues
Brinkmann also said Europe was taken back by the warning this week from Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver that Ottawa is prepared to launch a trade action against the 27-country bloc over plans to designate oilsands crude as dirty oil.
Oliver has been in Paris, Brussels and London this week, lobbying against the EU’s proposed fuel directive legislation.
25 March
Harper greets pandas at airport, calling them ‘national treasures’
(Globe & Mail) The high-school brass band struck up O Canada, officials scurried about distributing press kits, and the dignitaries on the tarmac shivered on their hard-backed chairs as the arrival of the two very important pandas approached.
Finally, Er Shun and Da Mao touched down at Toronto’s Pearson airport Monday morning, a few minutes behind schedule but evidently none the worse for wear after their long, tiring flight from Chengdu, in southwest China, in their special cages.
12 February
Canada Playing ‘Catch Up’ In China’s Booming Market
(HuffPost) Prime Minister Stephen Harper is now trying to make up for lost time when it comes to Canada’s ties with China, and there is a lot of work to do to brand Canada as a serious player in the international market, according to the head of the country’s biggest business association.
Perrin Beatty, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said in an interview last week in Hong Kong that both the federal government and the business community have ignored China’s booming economic growth for too long.
2012
11 September
Ottawa eyeing full-blown free trade agreement with China
The Harper government is set to announce exploratory talks with China aimed at striking a full-blown free trade agreement, the National Post has learned.
An announcement on exploratory talks was originally to have been made last month when the Canadian and Chinese governments released a joint study on the benefits both sides could expect from deeper trade links. The study was released on Aug. 15 and concluded there is “untapped potential for further growth.”
However, the $15-billion bid for Calgary-based oil company Nexen by China’s Cnooc Ltd delayed the talks announcement, which is now expected to be made once Canada has completed its 45-day review of the Nexen deal (that process can be extended an additional 30 days). Sources suggested the Canadian government will use the review process to leverage Chinese approval for takeovers by Canadian companies such the Bank of Nova Scotia’s pending purchase of the Bank of Guangzhou.