With MPs set to start their holiday recess soon, concerns are mounting in both British government and Canadian business circles about the House of Commons failing to pass implementation legislation for the new Canada-U.K. Trade Continuity Agreement before existing trade rules expire.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng introduced bill C-18 on Wednesday. While her officials said they’re still hoping it will pass quickly, the government has not sought unanimous consent from the opposition parties to approve the bill at all stages quickly before the Commons begins its scheduled winter break — which is now expected to happen tomorrow.
British officials reached out to CBC News Thursday to offer their responses on background to reports that the legislation may not be passed in time for the agreement to come into effect on Jan. 1, when Canada’s preferential trade deal with the European Union ceases to apply to the now-independent U.K.
The U.K. government was said to be both concerned and disappointed that Canada was not in a position to honour the commitment it made when an agreement-in-principle was announced last month by the prime ministers of both countries.
The British suggested Canadian parliamentarians were not taking this seriously enough. MPs were urged to put politics aside and pull together to make sure damage and disruption were not inflicted on the business community, something the U.K. views as unacceptable.
The British department of trade was said to have moved significant resources quickly this fall to work with Canada’s timeline. It was said to be working with the Canadian government to understand the problem and to deal with it.
In an apparent reference to comments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made previously questioning the British government’s “bandwidth” to negotiate trade deals, U.K. officials told CBC News that, in fact, the British system has shown it has the “bandwidth” and is ready to move forward with implementing legislation at the same pace as Canada.
But despite its readiness, the U.K. cannot apply the agreement provisionally on its own. So it’s warning that there may not be a deal in place by the end of the year. The British were said to be working to understand what they can do to put emergency arrangements in place.
Unlike Canada’s finance department, the U.K. government apparently cannot issue remission orders to, for example, protect importers from having to pay duties until the agreement is ratified. With no similar tool in use, some Canadian exports could be taxed in the U.K. as of Jan.1.
‘Recovery depends on trade’
CBC News asked Ng Thursday for her response to the British blaming Canada for taking too long to implement their agreement.
“The work isn’t done,” Ng said. “Both the U.K. trade secretary and myself … Canada and the United Kingdom are committed to, within a year of this agreement’s ratification, to get back to the negotiating table and to pursue the discussions on a comprehensive, bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and Canada.
“I want to assure Canadian businesses that we are going to work very hard to make sure that there is a smooth transition for them and that they don’t experience disruptions as they export into the United Kingdom.”
Boris Johnson’s government is said to be concerned and disappointed that Canadian parliamentarians have not passed C-18, the legislation to implement the Canada-U.K. Trade Continuity Agreement. (Francisco Seco/The Associated Press)
The vast majority of Canada’s exports can enter the U.K. duty-free, under World Trade Organization rules.
But Canadian business groups fear there’s no plan in place to keep the promise Ng made to mitigate any damage.
Five organizations — the Business Council of Canada, the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters — issued a public statement today calling on parliamentarians to work across party lines to implement the interim agreement and avoid disrupting trade with their largest partner in Europe.
The groups welcomed the government’s stated intention to negotiate an ambitious and permanent trade deal starting next year. “But for now, job number one should be to limit supply chain disruptions and ensure there are no negative consequences at the end of the year,” the statement said. “As a trading nation, our road to economic recovery depends on trade.”
Canadian products that could face tariffs include lobster, maple syrup, beef, certain plastics, some trucks and other automotive vehicles.
Committee calls for more study
This warning from business groups came on the same day the Commons trade committee issued an interim report based on its pre-study of a potential transitional trade agreement with the U.K.
Among its recommendations was a call for the government to “immediately announce the scenarios it is considering” for ratification, or to offer a “detailed articulation” of what Canadian exporters can expect and what support will be provided in the event there’s no ratification before the deadline.
At the same time, the committee called for the insertion of a sunset clause in the agreement to ensure that Parliament can revisit its terms, whether or not a subsequent permanent bilateral agreement is reached.
What we know about the interim Canada–U.K. trade deal:
The two countries have agreed to ‘roll over’ the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). 5:35
MPs called for more time to study the final text of the agreement before making a decision on its implementation bill.
The final text was only published on Wednesday, after it was tabled by Ng immediately prior to the introduction of C-18.
The committee also asked for more public consultation and reports to parliamentarians during any future talks.
Irish border concerns
On Tuesday, the Commons foreign affairs committee unanimously passed a motion proposed by NDP MP Jack Harris that recognized that the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union could affect the Good Friday Agreement — a treaty that Canada helped broker to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
“The committee calls on the government to ensure that any post-Brexit trade deal between Canada and the United Kingdom be consistent with the principles of the Good Friday Agreement,” the motion read, while calling on the government to table a “comprehensive response.”
The NDP’s trade critic, Daniel Blaikie, is expected to table the same motion at the Commons trade committee on Friday.
MPs expressed concern that the British government’s Brexit proposal could have created a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, disrupting the free flow of goods and people that the Good Friday Agreement was meant to protect. Such a violation could inflame sectarian tensions or even violence.
The Friends of Sinn Fein organization reached out to CBC News Wednesday to identify the border issue as a consideration for MPs as they consider the Canada–U.K. trade legislation.
It did not reply to a subsequent question from CBC News about whether it has been lobbying the government of Canada on the Irish border issue.
Nova Scotia RCMP say their investigation into two suspicious deaths earlier this month has concluded that one man died by homicide and the other by suicide.
The bodies of two men, aged 40 and 73, were found in a home in Windsor, N.S., on Sept. 3.
Police say the province’s medical examiner determined the 40-year-old man was killed and the 73-year-old man killed himself.
They say the two men were members of the same family.
No arrests or charges are anticipated, and the names of the deceased will not be released.
RCMP say they will not be releasing any further details out of respect for the family.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from its original location because members were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
Nemaska’s story illustrates the challenges Legault’s government faces as it looks to build new dams to meet the province’s power needs, which are anticipated to double by 2050. Legault has promised that any new projects will be developed in partnership with Indigenous people and have “social acceptability,” but experts say that’s easier said than done.
François Bouffard, an associate professor of electrical engineering at McGill University, said the earlier era of hydro projects were developed without any consideration for the Indigenous inhabitants living nearby.
“We live in a much different world now,” he said. “Any kind of hydro development, no matter where in Quebec, will require true consent and partnership from Indigenous communities.” Those groups likely want to be treated as stakeholders, he added.
Securing wider social acceptability for projects that significantly change the landscape — as hydro dams often do — is also “a big ask,” he said. The government, Bouchard added, will likely focus on boosting capacity in its existing dams, or building installations that run off river flow and don’t require flooding large swaths of land to create reservoirs.
Louis Beaumier, executive director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal, said Legault’s visit to Nemaska represents a desire for reconciliation with Indigenous people who were traumatized by the way earlier projects were carried about.
Any new projects will need the consent of local First Nations, Beaumier said, adding that its easier to get their blessing for wind power projects compared to dams, because they’re less destructive to the environment and easier around which to structure a partnership agreement.
Beaumier added that he believes it will be nearly impossible to get the public — Indigenous or not — to agree to “the destruction of a river” for a new dam, noting that in recent decades people have come to recognize rivers as the “unique, irreplaceable riches” that they are.
Legault’s visit to northern Quebec came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
The book, published in 2022 along with Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Nemaska community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault was in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro complex in honour of former premier Bernard Landry. At the event, Legault said he would follow the example of his late predecessor, who oversaw the signing of the historic “Paix des Braves” agreement between the Quebec government and the Cree in 2002.
He said there is “significant potential” in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, both in increasing the capacity of its large dams and in developing wind power projects.
“Obviously, we will do that with the Cree,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEMASKA – For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
The book, published in 2022 by Wapachee and Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Cree community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, 100 and 300 kilometres away, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Legault’s visit came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault had been in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro dam in honour of former premier Bernard Landry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
