Trade Minister Ed Fast says Canada and Europe are close to
finalizing a trade agreement.
He told an Alberta meeting of cattlemen that only a very few
issues remain to be resolved.
And Canadian Press reports that the negotiations have been
bumped up to the top level and now are between Prime Minister Stephen Harper
and his staff and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.
Among the issues still to be resolved are Canada’s import
quota on cheeses, Europe’s import quotas on beef and pork, patent protection
for pharmaceuticals, European access to Canadian financial markets, investor-state
dispute settlements and opening Canadian government contracts at the federal,
provincial and municipal levels to European bidders.
There was a weekend report from the meeting in Alberta that there's an agreement on Canadian access to European beef and pork markets, but the Harper government later said that's not true.
Even if Harper and Barroso are able to reach agreement, they
both will need to seek additional approvals – Harper from the provinces on issues such as open bidding on government contracts,
Barroso from members of the European Union.
There is
speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants a deal before Parliament
resumes in October.
There is also pressure to finalize this deal before European
negotiators get totally engrossed in negotiations that have opened with the
United States.
