Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Dwight Ball.
The Council of Canadians has been raising the issue of the constitutionality of abandoning Minimum Processing Requirements (MPRs) in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Now with the Brexit vote, that aspect of CETA may be up for renegotiation.
In terms of background, CBC has reported, “In October 2013, [Newfoundland and Labrador] announced that Ottawa would pony up 70 per cent of the costs of a $400-million fishery fund, as part of a trade-off that would see [the province] forgo [MPRs] for European markets. The issue had been a flashpoint in trade discussions on [CETA]. But in December 2014, [Newfoundland and Labrador premier Paul] Davis accused the feds of putting new stipulations on their $280-million contribution to the fund, saying Ottawa was linking the cash to losses directly attributed to the province giving up MPRs [rather than as a no-strings attached payment].” By March 2016, Judy Foote, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Bonavista-Burin-Trinity, said there were new talks underway between the federal government and the provincial government under Liberal premier Dwight Ball to resolve this issue.
Today there’s a new twist in this story. The Globe and Mail reports, “Brexit has created a myriad of technical complications. Parts of it may have to be renegotiated since Canada made some concessions with an eye to gaining access mainly to the British market. For example, Newfoundland and Labrador gave up some protections for its fish plant workers in return for greater access for seafood products. Canada may have to consider whether to renegotiate those concessions, trade officials said privately.”
Two significant aspects to this development:
1- The article suggests Newfoundland and Labrador “gave up” (past tense) protections for its fish plant workers. St. John’s chapter activist Ken Kavanagh has made the point, “The processing sector is constitutionally the responsibility of the province. Unless the previous Davis government or the present Ball government have secretly signed off on relinquishment of said rights, then MPRs are not yet removed!”
2- If MPRs are to be renegotiated in CETA, then there is further reason to demand public hearings. Kavanagh has highlighted, “If MPRs are a part of out constitutional rights (as per the Terms of Union), then before conceding on any aspect of that constitutional right, a serious consultation and public discourse with citizens of this province is mandatory. This fishery does not belong to any government of the day but to the people and no government of the day has a right to single-handedly relinquish a constitutional right to have full control of the processing sector.”
The Council of Canadians continues to call on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to oppose CETA and to maintain Minimum Processing Requirements.
In the weeks to come as the implications of the Brexit vote unfold, we will be raising this issue. We will also have the opportunity to highlight this when we hold our annual conference in St. John’s this coming Oct. 14-16. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is currently scheduled to be in Brussels just ten days later on October 27 at a special Canada-European Union summit to sign CETA.
For more on our campaign to stop CETA, please click here.
