Canada to join EU?
Richard Moore
TPStory/National
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: PROPOSAL EXCEEDS SCOPE OF NAFTA
Provinces key to EU trade deal, Quebec Premier says
KAREN HOWLETT
October 3, 2008
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONT. -- Canada's premiers will play a pivotal
role in the country's efforts to integrate its economy with the 27
nations of the European Union, Quebec Premier Jean Charest says.
Preliminary talks between Canadian and European officials will begin
on Oct. 17 at a summit in Montreal. The provinces' role in the
negotiations will be instrumental to the fate of the proposed massive
agreement because it involves issues that primarily fall under their
jurisdiction, Mr. Charest told The Globe and Mail yesterday.
No deal could happen without the premiers at the table, he said.
"Unless we are fully involved in the negotiations, we are not going
to get the deal we want," Mr. Charest said.
He described the proposed pact as a groundbreaking initiative on a
scale that has never been attempted. The accord would go well beyond
the scope of the NAFTA agreement between Canada and the United States
by encompassing not only trade in goods and services but also the
free movement of skilled workers and an open market in government
services and procurement.
Mr. Charest said the federal government can sign a treaty with other
countries dealing with these areas. But he said Ottawa does not have
the power to commit the provinces to areas that fall under their
jurisdiction. "It is without effect if we don't sign on," he said.
The fact that provinces will be at the negotiating table reflects
their efforts to play a major role in charting the country's destiny
on key issues where their interests are at stake. The push to remove
trade and investment barriers with the EU countries comes as Canada
is making an effort to lessen its dependence on the United States,
its largest trading partner.
Mr. Charest was in Niagara-on-the-Lake yesterday, where he and
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty spoke on a panel at the Ontario
Economic Summit about the toll the weakened U.S. economy has taken on
Central Canada. Thousands of manufacturing jobs have vanished in
Ontario and Quebec in the past few years, and the pain is far from
over, economists say.
Mr. McGuinty told the audience that Canada's premiers will lead their
first-ever trade mission to China later this fall. "We need to find
more ways to market ourselves as a nation," he said.
Mr. Charest has been involved in the initiative involving the EU
countries for two years, including lobbying business leaders in its
member countries. He said it is up to Canada to "hustle" for the
proposed trans-Atlantic accord because no one is going to come
knocking on its door.
"There's no one who gets up in the morning in the world community
saying, 'why don't we make a deal with Canada today?' " Mr. Charest
said. "If we want these types of agreements, we have to go out there
and fight for them and hustle for them."
The pitch he is making to Europeans is to do a deal with Canada that
can serve as a model for something far more ambitious with the United
States.
"We've always had a very clear view that it's our responsibility to
promote our interests abroad," Mr. Charest said.
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