It’s the right fight

People across Canada and in the EU are realizing just how little sense these “comprehensive” trade talks make.

The EU’s ban on seal products is clearly an irritant for the Williams government, but provinces have more to lose under the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

For example, the big prize for the EU — and some say their only major ask in these talks — is legally guaranteed access to public spending in Canada’s provinces, territories, cities, hospitals, school boards and utilities. EU companies can already bid on almost any public tender, whether for school uniforms or the construction of a new hospital, but a procurement agreement would give European bidders legal clout to challenge tenders they don’t win, for whatever reason. (That includes water contracts kept out of the hands of European water multinationals because cities want to keep water public.)

 Unrestricted access to public tenders sounds fair, as long as Canadian firms get equal rights in the EU. But  Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already signed a deal with the U.S. that did not get us reciprocal access to government spending and he won’t hesitate before signing another bum deal.

More importantly, a fair procurement deal would leave room for cities on both sides of the Atlantic to apply local preferences for the sake of sustainability or community development.

 There would be gains for Eastern Canada if the EU lowered tariffs on fish, shrimp and lobster exports. But according to Canada’s lead negotiator, the tradeoff will be giving EU fishing boats higher quotas and access to Canadian ports. What’s the point if European boats can fish themselves and take the spoils across the Atlantic?

The skeptical position of the Newfoundland government is the right one. The province is already dealing with two ridiculous NAFTA lawsuits from Exxon Mobil and Abitibi Bowater. Williams knows how trade deals can unjustifiably interfere with legitimate provincial social, economic and environmental policy. More needs to be done to open the CETA negotiations to public scrutiny.

Harper’s government wants to rush the premiers into any deal, no matter what the costs. We encourage other provinces to put a stop to the CETA negotiations while we have an honest discussion about what there is to gain, if anything, from continuing.

Angela Giles

Atlantic regional organizer,

Council of Canadians, Halifax