NAFTA expected to be hot topic as premiers sit down in Edmonton
Canada’s position in EDMONTON the North American Free Trade Agreement will be a hot topic as premiers sit down at the table for the Council of Federation meeting Tuesday in Edmonton.
The United States released its NAFTA wish list Monday, including how it will try to scrap the Chapter 19 resolution panels Canada uses to appeal rulings on issues such as softwood lumber.
Following the first COF meeting Monday, in which premiers met with leaders of the Indigenous Peoples’ Assembly of Canada and Native Women’s Association of Canada, premiers were already talking about how NAFTA talks might hit their provinces.
Premier Rachel Notley said Monday while premiers have been heading south of the border aggressively banging the drum of Canadian trade, they need to better co-ordinate to stand up for Canada’s interests.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall went one step further, saying although he doesn’t think Canada will need it, the country should start penning — “in a quiet, calm, non-disclosed way” — a list of ways to retaliate “should things go off the rails.”
Talk turned to NAFTA following the traditional first-day meeting dedicated to Indigenous issues.
For the first time, three national Indigenous groups — the Assembly of First Nations, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council — snubbed the Monday meeting, but maintained it wasn’t a boycott.
At a joint news conference Monday in Toronto, the heads of those organizations said for too long, Indigenous groups have been shunted aside to a two-hour pre-council meeting about topical subjects with no path to meaningful change.
“We’re trying to make things better going into the future,” AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde said.
Bellegarde thinks Indigenous groups have been excluded from too many important discussions over the past year, including development of energy and climate change policies and the national health accord.
“We should not have to fight to be at those tables,” he said.
Wall admitted the COF format isn’t perfect, but worries the three groups are risking progress on key issues by not showing up.
“This meeting doesn’t get everything done that we’d like to get done … but I think it has been effective and I think it’s worth preserving,” Wall said.
Indigenous Peoples’ Assembly of Canada National Chief Robert Bertrand said it was well worth his while to be at the table Monday. “It’s too bad (the other organizations) decided not to come,” he said.
“They have their reasons for doing so, and I respect it, but ... for the people I represent, I find it useful.”
That was echoed by NWA president Francyne Joe.
While her group wasn’t approached to boycott the meeting, she said, her membership expect her to do whatever she can to discuss the issues affecting Indigenous women.
Bellegarde maintains that meaningful engagement with federal and provincial governments is crucial to stable economies, improving the lives of Indigenous peoples and creating a better Canada.
For MNC president Clément Chartier, that means full seats at the table, not just an invitation for a secondary discussion.
“Unless we start taking a stand, they’re not going to listen to us,” Chartier said.
“Hopefully, this message will be heard loud and clear by them.”
This (COF) meeting doesn’t get everything done that we’d like ... but I think it has been effective and I think it’s worth preserving.