Trade and Investment Research Project

The third round of negotiations for the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) are taking place in Ottawa April 19-23. A new CCPA analysis of the proposed agreement warns that it poses a serious threat to Canada’s procurement policies and a broad range of public services.

According to the analysis—which draws heavily on leaked documents including the draft negotiating text—the proposed CETA would have an adverse impact on public services, such as waste, drinking water, and public transit. The proposed rules would entrench commercialization, especially public-private partnerships;  prohibit governments from obliging foreign investors to purchase locally, transfer technology or train local workers; and make it far harder for governments to reverse  failed privatizations.

Click here to read the full report.

A new analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives finds the early praise given to the tentative Buy American deal is undeserved.

The deal gives Canada fleeting access to stimulus projects worth $US 4-5 billion, less than 2% of the $275 billion of procurement funded under the Recovery Act. Given the late hour, Canadian suppliers can expect to see very little practical benefit. In return for these meagre scraps, the provinces and municipalities have offered up temporary access to U.S. suppliers worth an estimated $CAD 25 billion. Worse, Canada has bowed to U.S. pressure to bind purchasing by Canadian provincial governments under the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, severely curtailing the use of procurement as a public policy tool.

The full study, Buy American Basics, by CCPA senior researcher Scott Sinclair, is available here.