Maclean’s magazine columnist Paul Wells writes, “How’s the big trade deal with Europe coming along? Don’t ask.” He then points to various articles that report on how the deal would add billions to drug costs in Canada, how it would be bad for climate change, and how it wouldn’t really add $12 billion to the economy. He adds, “To be sure, much of this choppy weather is coming from the leftish labour-union and economic-nationalist types (by this Wells means the Council of Canadians) who announced 10 months ago they were mobilizing to stop the Canada-EU deal. They have been as good as their word.”
He notes, “Three months after the negotiations were originally scheduled to be completed, the trade talks drag on — and Canada-EU trade liberalization has no prominent champion. Despite his protestations, Jean Charest has run out of enthusiasm for the Canada-EU trade process he launched more or less by himself in 2007. …Dalton McGuinty was never a strong advocate of this deal. Gary Doer, who used to be, is in Washington where he cannot help. Alberta, B.C. and Newfoundland are distracted with leadership politics. The Canadian Council of Chief Executives, run by one of Canada’s most ardent free traders, John Manley, has buried any advocacy for Canada-EU trade so deep in its website you can’t find it with teams of hounds.”
“An ambassador from an EU country (recently) said Canada and the EU have pencilled in July as the signing date for the so-called CETA…during the annual Canada-EU summit in Ottawa. But then this ambassador said he sees no sign there will be such a deal. ‘The premiers never have anything good to say about it,’ he said.”
“Normally I’d predict that when that moment comes, or a few months later, Harper and his counterpart (Poland’s prime minister, I believe) will sign a tremendously watered-down trade agreement that keeps all the usual sacred cows — supply management, procurement, appelations controlées, services — well-watered and un-liberalized. Except for this: the lead European negotiator, Mauro Petriccione, has already said publicly that Europe is not interested in such a limited deal because it would harm the credibility of future trade negotiations with other non-European countries and blocs. So there’s a real possibility the whole four-year process could simply collapse.”
“And all of that was before tonight’s news. Which is big. ‘A high-powered group of auto executives is pushing Ottawa to halt free-trade talks with South Korea and the European Union and to offer incentives for an industry threatened by the rising dollar and growing competition from lower-cost markets.’ …It turns out that the heads of Magna and the Big Five automakers have decided to argue, with a straight face, that Canada will be more competitive if it trades less and subsidizes its heavy industry more. …As for CETA, (they say) ‘Canada requires a more sophisticated and less-idealistic view of free trade with Korea and the European Union.’”
Wells predicts, “That’s the end of that trade deal.”
His column can be read at http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/17/free-trade-with-europe-never-mind/.
