ISSUE: Should Canada set the world example for free trade among nations, GATT be damned? And if so, how can it best achieve free trade between Repentigny QC and Whitby ON?

UK PM Brown just appointed EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to his cabinet, they are old enemies but you know what they say about politics and strange bedfellows, and he’s quit the EU.

I wonder if the negotiations continue on regardless, are they abandoned or just on hold until new Trade Commissioner is appointed.

A M E R O

The U.S. answer to it’s failing economy

if the dollar fails
abandon it for a new currency

just like they did in Europe years ago
with the

E U R O

so start saving your Canadian dollars they will
be worth a lot when our newly elected Government
decides to abandon our currency for the

A M E R O

don’t laugh this is real!!!!!

“A newly completed study of the proposed deal, which European officials said Prime Minister Stephen Harper decided not to release until after the election, concludes that the pact would increase bilateral trade and investment by at least $40-billion a year, mainly in trade in services.

Ottawa officials say they have overcome what they see as their biggest hurdle: the resistance of provincial governments to an agreement that would force them to allow European corporations to provide their government services, if their bids are the lowest.”

um….which government services are we talking about exactly, and why is Harper trying to keep this from being discussed?

Something doesn’t add up.

Alas! they have to remain secret, precisely so as to avoid public scrutiny (from both sides). The only way to do these things is to reach a deal and hope everybody likes it; otherwise special interests (in which the EU is the World Leader) start to carp. We just have to trust our negotiators to do a good job, but they are professionals so I think we have a good chance.

To the anti-trade folk here: all we’d be doing would be selling to Europe that part of our sovereignty that we’ve already sold to the US, right? So it can’t really hurt. In terms of preserving our culture, surely Europe is much less of a threat than the US; indeed, since much of Canadian culture is a blend of the two, more European influence would if anything get us back to a better equilibrium in terms of US cultural influence.

Any word on when they hope to succeed in making this deal?

Just checking.

“some of the trade that occurred under a Canada-EU deal”

Is it meant to read: “some of the trade that would occur, or were to occur, under a Canada-EU deal, or has it actually ‘occurred’?

Harper will not want this to be debated as this could really turn the tide in the current election.

This needs to be debated openly or Harper risks revivfying the hidden agenda arguments so frequently made against him.

I doubt these negotiations will be easy however. GMOs and ‘region of origin’ rules being at the top of the list (seems unlike that Canada or the US would want to INCREASE regulation / DECREASE free exchange in order to have ‘free trade’ with Europe)

Wow, it would be waaay cool for Canada to be the free trade hub of the world, all free trade spokes lead to Canada.

So, um, any chance we can kill off the stupid agricultural supply management garbage, the Wheat Board, and a few other vestiges of non-free trade? If we want to lead the world be example, we had best set a good example!

How quickly things change during an election and a financial market meltdown in Canada’s largest (and insolvent) trading partner.

“….which would require that Canadian governments allow European companies to bid as equals on government contracts for both goods and services and end the favouring of local or national providers of public-sector services.”

Hooray to the end of protecting or “favouring” our own. Nationalism is so passe, eh? Let’s give it up for Europe! Let’s just join today. I’m burning my flag with one hand and wiping the tears from my eyes with the other.

In his previous life EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson was a master spin-doctor for Blair and came from the Stalinist wing of the Labour party, according to the Independent newspaper, but has now turned into a typical champagne socialist. I am skeptical that an old Stalinist is writing a trade deal that I will appreciate.

What concerns me most though is what’s going to be harmonized. If it’s strictly trade related issues, I can handle that, but I think it’s going to be much more than that.

EU bureaucrats are responsible for making 75% of all new laws for member countries. Their latest wheeze is sanctioning trials ‘in absentia’ that means citizen of one country can be tried and convicted and jailed without being present at the case.

So count me as one who wants to know what exactly the agreement is going to entail before I get too excited by this.

1. Can you try and stay on topic. Your comments aren’t really adding anything to this discussion. There are plenty of other posts on this site to which you can cut-and-paste your usual complaints about the MSM Liberal bias.

2. Why are you expecting coverage of this topic on the *television* news? The fact that it didn’t get coverage on your evening news cast does not reflect a bias for Liberal over Conservative news, it reflects a bias for simple over complex news, which is largely a result of the format.

It would also be good for the whole country. The first thing that came to my mind was how beneficial this would be for points east of Ontario (mainly Montreal and Halifax) with their ports and I would also think it would increase, greatly, trade coming through Prince George and Vancouver.

To the gaffe haters – If so many parts of the Conservative apparatus were not so idiotic, we might be able to have some policy debates. Don’t blame the messengers for the blunders of those who wish to lead us.

But wait until the debate, this issue will be sure to come up and it will play more in the media. And policy announcements are still coming out, so more comprehensive coverage will come, but not until October probably. Still a couple more weeks of Gaffestock to rock out to.

An extremely unfortunate development in recent years is the trend toward agenda journalism or partisan journalism. If the media no longer have the public’s trust that they are objective purveyor’s of facts untainted by an agenda or an ideology, then we lose an important opportunity to discuss and debate issues.

The debate or discussion becomes skewed at the outset, and an opportunity for thoughtful and reasoned discussion is lost.

Nope, no mention of this hugely important topic on the evening news. The three week old joke? Yup. Front and center.

A quick glance at the NYT’s stock prices over the last year (if you don’t have time, here’s a quick description – a downward slope like a black diamond ski run) will give you some idea where the Canadian media is headed as a result.

But: Why is this the first time the electorate have heard about it in any detail? And when are Harper and the Conservatives going to start to talk about it in the context of their political platform for that election that apparently is going on?

This proposed trade agreement may be a good idea or a bad idea. But Canadians deserve to have big policy shifts, such as this, discussed openly in a transparent, adult fashion. When are the Conservatives going to figure this out? Will they ever?

“And lets say the U.S. gets “inside”. Lets think about this: “the free movement of skilled people and an open market in government services and procurement – which would require that Canadian governments allow European companies to bid as equals on government contracts for both goods and services and end the favouring of local or national providers of public-sector services.”

“Do you know what that means Andrew and the rest? It means that all government spending will be privatized for “for profit” services.”

I don’t think “an open market in government services and procurement” means that, does it?

I think it refers to government contracts with the private sector, of which we have a lot already. It means that Canadian companies wouldn’t be favoured in the awarding of Canadian Government contracts. It doesn’t mean that the private sector gets to bid on city policing, for example, or on whatever sectors the government chooses to administer itself. Am I wrong?

Interesting.