Region’s rejection threatens trade deal
Leader of Wallonia finds deal’s guarantees insufficient
OTTAWA— Canada has dispatched its special envoy on its trade deal with the European Union to meet with the leaders of the Belgian region that voted to reject the deal.
Pierre Pettigrew, a former Liberal trade and foreign minister recently appointed by the current Liberal government, is off to Paris to meet with representatives of Belgium’s Wallonia region after its legislature voted earlier today to reject the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
A spokesman for Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada continues to push with its European partners to get the deal signed.
EU trade ministers meet next week to consider the pact. The deal requires unanimous approval from the European Union’s member countries, including Belgium.
The Wallonia vote has created headaches for Belgium’s national government because its constitution gives its three regional governments — Wallonia being one of them — a potential veto over the deal, which has been seven years in the making.
Wallonia’s regional legislature rejected the deal by a 46-14 margin on Friday, with one abstention.
The francophone region of 3.5 million fears the deal will leave farming and industrial sectors too exposed to cheaper imports from Canada.
Environmental activists and trade unions have all warned such international deals could worsen local standards for food, work and industry.
Paul Magnette, the leader of the region of Wallonia, said Friday he would “not give the full powers to the federal government” to back the deal at an EU meeting Tuesday, where the 28 member states have to decide on full approval of the agreement.
Magnette said that “the guarantees are insufficient” and said labour, environmental and legal standards needed to be improved before such a deal could be approved.
The agreement has been backed by an overwhelming majority of the 28 member nations of the EU.
It is scheduled to be officially signed at an EU-Canada summit in Brussels with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Oct. 27, seven years after talks started under the previous Conservative government.
The Belgian national government and the dominant Dutch-speaking region on Flanders back the deal.
The EU says CETA deal with Canada will improve trade, create jobs, and remove just about all tariffs and custom duties while at the same time guaranteeing European standards on anything from food and health quality to labour rights.