'We are ready': Canada-Europe trade deal set to kick in, mostly, by July 1

Proponents of Canada's trade deal with the European Union will soon find out if eight years of negotiations and lobbying were worth it.

Canada is preparing to provisionally applythe Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) by July 1.

"We are ready on the European side," theEU'strade commissioner CeciliaMalmstromsaid ona visit to Ottawa last Tuesday to promote the deal.

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Now it's theEU'sturn to waitfor Canada.

After CETA's successful ratification vote in February, the EU suggested it could be provisionally applied by April 1.

Malstromnow says the agreement will enter intoforce "within weeks."

"We have done our work," she said."We don't see anydelays with this."

Or any more delays, she could have said.

Negotiations ended in 2014. But when opposition to the controversial investment clause emerged in Europe, Canada agreed torevisionsa year ago.

More "clarifications" were required when the signing ceremonyin October wasnearly undoneby last-minute brinksmanship by the Wallonia region ofBelgium, which wanted changes to agricultural and other provisions.

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In Canada, the federal cabinet ratifies CETA, so unlike in Europe, there's no votingdramahere.

The legislationto bring Canada'slaws and regulations into compliance, C-30, is now beforetheSenate foreign affairs and trade committee.

It meetsWednesday and Thursday, with International Trade Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne and senior officials expected as witnesses.

A few clauses of the bill were tweaked in mostly technical ways duringthe Commons committee's review. There's no sign of senatorsholding it up.

Provinces and territories have to comply too.

Ontario and Quebecneededto legislate changes Ontario has done soand the process is underway in Quebec (but expected to pass.)Other provinces will amendregulations and policies by cabinet order.

The heat'son to wrap this upbefore legislators break for the summer.

Then diplomatic notes will be exchanged, fixinga date for provisional application, likely nolater than July 1.

New investmentcourton hold

CETA's being implementedintwo stages about95 per cent of it now, the rest later because of a complexjurisdictional battlestill playing out in Europe.

A few measures, some argue, fall outside the European Commission's purview, including the reworked investor court system that allows companies to sue governments for decisions that unfairly damage their business interests.

For both legal and political reasons, these clauses are on hold until 38 national legislatures (and a few regional ones) vote and hold referendums across 27 of the 28 member countries. (Malta doesn't require a vote.)

Latvia, where Canadian troops are headed shortly on a NATO mission, was thefirst country to ratify.

The Czech Republic may be next. Malmstromsaidothers will followbefore summer.

"In a huge majority of countries, it will be no problem," the trade commissionersaid. "There are a few countries where this is still controversial," but over time proponents will "show that CETA is not actually the end of democracy, it's a good deal."

"All member countries have promised to do their utmost to get it ratified," she said.

If there's a "no" vote somewhere, they'llfigure it out, she said."That's what makes European politics so exciting!"

'We're not building walls,' says the European Union's trade commissioner

7 years ago

Duration 11:07

Cecilia Malmstrom tells Rosemary Barton that Canada and the EU 'send a very powerful message' on free trade.

Ratifying the EU'strade deal with South Korea took more thanfour years. But how long CETAtakes may not concern Canadians.

Muchof what benefits businesses and consumers won't wait, includingan immediate end to 98 per cent oftariffs, moreaccess topreviously restricted goods, chancesto bid oneach other's government contractsand improvedlabour mobility.

The few tariffsthat will remainare mostly on agricultural products. (This chartoffers more detail.)

Most goods will becomeduty-free,includingclothing orfootwear that has10-20 per cent tariffs now. Tariffson passenger cars phaseout over seven years.

But as summer approaches, exactly how trade will be liberalized for two commoditiesthat drove thetoughest bargaining isn't quite resolved.

Cheese anxiety

Canada agreed toimport 18,500tonnesof EU cheeses annually, a volume representingabout two per cent of its otherwise protected dairy market.

Who gets to import it and profit? Trade minister Champagne hasn't said yet.

"We've been hearing for weeks that it'scoming soon," said Jacques Lefebvre, the president of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada, concernedabout the short timeline to prepare.

"We were close to decision with the previous minister, but then there was a (cabinet) shuffle," he said.

Existing importers and retailers are lobbying hard.But Canadian farmers and processors argue that since their profits arethreatened by the new EU cheese,they should get a share of the import quota.

CETA specifies that 30 per cent of the quotamustgo tobusinesseswho don't currently import cheese.

An announcement by the trade minister next month will set upwhat consumers see on groceryshelves.

Will previously-hard-to-find European cheeses appear alongside Canadian ones?Or will cheaper imports simplybump off domestic products?

Red tape for meat

Other farmers seea different challenge: European food safety standards.

Europe has agreed to import exponentially more Canadian meat: The annual quota for beef rises from 15,000 tonnes to 65,000 tonnes. For pork, from 6,000 to over 80,000 tonnes.

It's athinslice of a huge market under one per cent of what Europeans eat.

But since Canada's beenshut out for decades, it's a big deal. Livestock farmers neednew customers astheir topbuyers, the Americans, maketrade threats.

However, along-running debate over food safety standards leavesmostmeat plantsuncertified forEU exports. A slow, scientific process to prove Canada's methods work won't be done beforeJuly.

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Plus, only a few dozen farms do all the paperwork and inspections the EU requires to certify animals as free of hormones and food additives. Hundreds needto start. And expand their herds.

Fortunately, this quota phases in over five years.

"We're not panicking," says John Masswohl, a spokesman for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association. "We'll take the time. We'll get it done right."

"This agreement is about the long-term potential, and about being transformative," he said. "It's becoming real now, isn't it?"