Our ‘Trojan horse’ protest against the Canada-EU ‘free trade’ agreement on Parliament Hill.
The Ottawa Citizen reports, “Prime Minister Stephen Harper has officially announced he will travel to Belgium, Poland and France early next month for the G7 Summit, D-Day commemorations and bilateral meetings. Harper will join other world leaders from G7 advanced economies for a summit in Brussels, Belgium on June 4 and 5… The G7 Summit will include the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, the European Council and European Commission.”
National Post columnist John Ivison writes, “The Prime Minister may announce the conclusion of marathon trade negotiations with the European Union in Brussels on June 4-5, when he’s in town for a previously scheduled G7 leaders meeting. Then again, he may not.”
There had been speculation that Canada-European Union ‘free trade’ negotiations would conclude with a final deal in early-May, but as Council of Canadians trade campaigner Scott Harris pointed out in his blog, “Despite the fanfare around last October’s announcement by Prime Minister Harper and European Commission President Barroso of an ‘agreement in principle’ — which opposition parties have called a ‘charade’ to distract from the Senate scandal — almost seven months later negotiators are still trying to reach a deal.”
It remains to be seen whether CETA will be signed in Brussels early next month or whether it will be another missed deadline due to outstanding thorny issues and the ongoing controversies in the European Union regarding investor-state provisions. Following the May 22-25 elections to the European Parliament it may also be the case that the Harper government will face greater obstacles securing the necessary ratification of the deal there should it be signed. For more on that, see Initial results in the European Parliament election.
For the latest on CETA, please read Harris’ blog How much is Harper paying to buy support for CETA? It’s a secret.
