“We need them, but they also need us.” Sherbrooke hosts NAFTA consultation
Sherbrooke was host to a public consultation on the renegotiation process for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Tuesday afternoon. The town hall meeting, led by Compton-stanstead MP and Minister for International development Maire-claude Bibeau as well as Andrew Leslie, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada-u.s. Relations, was one part of an ongoing, nation-wide effort to collect concerns and perspectives about the renegotiation of NAFTA initiated by the United States earlier this year.
“It is Mr. Trump and his team who have asked for these negotiations,” Leslie said, adding, “We have seen 23 years of success under this agreement across our three economies.”
While the parliamentary secretary noted that there have been 11 other “tweaks” in that time, he called the overall agreement a success and argued that it has made the three nations reliant on each other in a way that should prevent major issues from arising in this renegotiation. While Leslie did not make the claim that any individual country’s demands would be easily met, he dismissed the notion that negotiating teams would let the U.S. walk away with a deal that hurts Canada.
“It will take us until January, but we will not sign if we are not happy,” he stressed, explaining that there are 28 negotiating teams at work on behalf of Canada right now. These teams, he explained, will be meeting seven times together in locations across Canada, the United States, and Mexico over the coming months to sort out an arrangement that can be considered “win-win-win.”
Leslie sold the renegotiation as an opportunity to “modernize” NAFTA by bringing in concerns about the environment, the rights of aboriginal peoples, and matters of national importance like Canada’s supply management system.
Over the course of the meeting the secretary took eleven comments or questions on subjects ranging from protection for the local dairy industry, fears about the impact of cross-border tax changes, and general questions about the tone of the discussion so far.
On the last of these, Leslie made reference to Canada as a nation of hockey players and suggested that the “Trump model” of negotiation is one built on using intimidating and exaggerated starting points as a way of throwing opponents off balance. Rather than waver, the parliamentary secretary said that the Canadian team would “cross-check” back if needed.
“You mess with us, we’ll mess with you,” he said.
On a less aggressive note, when one participant argued that the United States should not be treated as friends because they do not act as a friend should act when making and following deals like NAFTA Leslie responded by saying that the United States is Canada’s friend, but that there are different ways of sorting out conflict in a friendship.
“If you have some issues with your friend, you can deal with them out in the public, or you can talk about them behind closed doors,”
While Sherbrooke’s consultation is now over, anyone can submit written questions or concerns about the negotiation process to the consultation team by email: Nafta-consultationsalena@international.gc.ca or by conventional mail to:
NAFTA Consultations Global Affairs Canada Trade Negotiations – North America (TNP) Lester B. Pearson Building 125 Sussex Drive Ottawa, ON K1A 0G2 More information on the public consultation process is available on the website of Global Affairs Canada http://www.international.gc.ca