Seroius lack of transparency in Canada over Canada EU trade pact !!

Patrick Leblond is assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, research fellow at the Canadian International Council and research associate at CIRANO. This article is based on a presentation he gave at Carleton University’s Centre for European Studies in November 2009.


Canada and the European Union are currently negotiating the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which, if concluded, would be the most important trade agreement negotiated by Canada since NAFTA. Unlike the latter agreement, however, CETA has so far generated little public discussion. Patrick Leblond argues that this is unfortunate, since CETA has important economic and
political ramifications. Economically, it touches on all aspects of Canadian economic activity, from tariffs to regulations, from agriculture to engineering services. Politically, it highlights the weakness of Canada's federal system in negotiating international agreements, which increasingly concern provincial and territorial jurisdictions.

“Canada’s political leaders cannot afford to wait for the next set of international negotiations to devise such a coordinating mechanism,” he says, and he suggests that the Council of the Federation should be seriously considered for the role.

pdf here:

THE CANADA-EU COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC AND TRADE AGREEMENT: MORE TO IT THAN MEETS THE EYE