OTTAWA: Farm groups across Canada expect a new interprovincial trade agreement to clear paths for more trade in Canadian-grown agrifood and other farmed products within the country, reducing the need for imports. Federal, provincial and territorial ministers on Friday announced they’ve concluded talks on a new Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), which on July 1 will replace the current Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) that’s been in place since 1995. Ministers on Friday noted the new deal takes a “negative list” approach to trade, in which the deal declares all trade barriers across all sectors of economic activity to be lifted unless specifically identified as an exception.
The CFTA will also automatically apply to goods and services in “new and emerging” sectors, an aspect that’s expected to remove regulatory uncertainty. According to an Ontario government release Friday, the deal makes Canada the first country in the world to have a binding process to harmonize or mutually recognize existing regulations affecting trade. The CFTA is also meant to align domestic trade rules with international trade agreements, such as the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), providing guarantees that Canadian businesses get no less favourable treatment than EU suppliers will have in Canada under CETA.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, for one, “is pleased that the agreement is structured to facilitate the flow of goods using an over-arching non-discrimination principle,” president Ron Bonnett said in a separate release Friday. “This will ensure that technical aspects don’t create unnecessary barriers to trade within our own borders.” The CFA on Friday noted several areas in which farmers face difficulties in interprovincial trade, such as trucking transportation regulations and differing requirements between federally- and provincially-regulated meat processing plants.
