The media is all abuzz today about the wonderful deal finally reached between American and Canadian officials to exempt Canadian businesses from the 'Buy American' clause of the $787 billion infrastructure aid program set up in the US last year. After months of tough negotiations Ministers van Loan and Cannon proudly made the announcement this morning.
Fabulous! That is great news for Canadian businesses...
Right?
Maybe.
Except that there is only about $75 billion of the money left - less than 10%.
Oh yes, and the deadline for proposals is February 17th. So our businesses have, hmm, let's see, less than two weeks to actually get proposals together and compete for that money.
Oh! And this agreement only applies to this particular program - other legislation that has 'Buy American' clauses is not included - though there is apparently a negotiated fast track. We'll be fighting this battle over and over again - meaning we will be always slightly behind American companies in the Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
Oh! And it only applies to the 37 states that are WTO signatories. However ALL Canadian provinces are included.
What did we have to offer up in return? We just had to agree to one teensy little WTO clause. One small little clause that opens every municipal, provincial and federal RFP process, in perpetuity, to American and European Union companies.
Well. Seems like they made a great deal. Well done Steve!
So what is really happening here?
Seems to me like Harper is using this issue as an excuse to further his plans to fully integrate the economy of Canada under the U.S. After being thwarted at the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) he has found another way to circumvent citizen pressure and preference. This article mentions how "the new deal also furthers Harper's goal of breaking down interprovincial trade barriers and gives momentum to his push to have a single securities regulator."
All on the pretext of saving Canadian exports.
We'll see. But I don't think so.
(P.S. I confess I am writing this without having seen the full agreement - as soon as I can check it out I'll let you know if I'm wrong about any of the points.)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Now *that* was some impressive negotiating
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2 comments:
1 question, does Harper even have the ability to tell the provinces to sign the WTO rules?
Okay. Total conjecture here (I'll research later) but there are two points I believe are valid.
1. He had the support of the provinces to sign the agreement - at least that is what he said.
2. We have a different system of government than the States, so while each State must sign on to the WTO, yes, our PM does represent the provinces at the WTO and can speak for them.
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