Canada European Trade Agreement

I think you mean Mr Butts and the rest of his cabal of advisers have told him to endorse, just don't ask him any questions about it.

What you mean is that it means squat to you. To most Canadians it means a lot, more growth in industries particularly in Ontario's manufacturing sector. And lower prices on a lot of commodities overly protected by Canada's supply management system. A few sacred cows like dairy get gored albeit not nearly hard enough.

Now, have you got anything of substance or do you just want to whine a bit more?

In ON, the permit for a dairy cow is almost $50 000/cow.
Are you telling me that this will end? If one can import dairy that doesn't suffer from these monopolist restrictions, then the ON industry is doomed, and rightly so.
Basically, gov's on both sides were stifling trade, and they are easing up a little bit.
If they had never chosen to stifle trade in the first place, this would not be an issue. And, even with NAFTA, the Canadian government imposes restrictive tariffs on US goods.

Mike, it's not an end. What happens is that things like the EU cheese quota gets expanded greatly. Not immediately but over a schedule of several years. And it's the Quebec industry that's going to get hammered by this, more so than the Ontario dairy industry.

There will be knock-on effects. More Euro cheese at lower prices because of lower tariffs is going to put pressure on Canadian cheese producers to up their game or go out of business. This should mean downward pressure on dairy quota costs as Canadian whole milk producers find themselves getting squeezed between cheaper imports and quota costs.

At one time, Canada was a significant net exporter of dairy. Today it's a large net importer, about 250,000 tonnes annually. Canada's imports are primarily high value added like cheese; it's exports are all low value added like powdered milk. And the date when Canada slumped into net imports can be established with the founding of the dairy marketing board. Our exports slumped and imports grew from that moment. So with this agreement putting at least some pressure on overly protected domestic dairy, that's a good thing. It's also a good thing that it comes as a gradually increasing pressure, not one of simply being suddenly dropped off a cliff which could well demolish the industry overnight before it has a chance to cope with the new circumstances.

"easing up a little bit"? Sometimes it's like removing a single stone from a wall. May take a while, but sooner or later the whole edifice comes crumbling down. Like CBC losing HNIC to Rogers.

No, abtrapper, it didn't escape unscathed. It has greatly expanded quotas as I just pointed out above, and these increases are significant. But I agree with you that the poultry and egg exemptions have to go as well.

The big wins for Canada are in the professional accreditation sections, the equal access to EU for Canadian manufacturing (a BIG boost for Ontario, particularly in the auto-parts sector), and the dispute mechanism (which Germany hates and for good reason). Over the next several years, these things alone should do much for Ontario's economy despite whatever the appalling Whynne government manages to do.

Of course the socialists are going to try to take credit through their tax and spend nonsense. But face it, a prosperous Ontario is a hell of a lot better than a broke Ontario sucking off transfer payments from the west. Yes, like NAFTA, there will be some losers. But overall, the win will be much, much larger. And make no mistake, the anti-Harperites including a few who hang around here, are going to try to blow up every one of the downsides into something colossal.

I absolutely agree CGH ,and I believe this agreement has way more upside for Canada than eu simply because their requests by shear volume will cause backlogs for our industry wich is a good problem to have . It means stability, higher pay , and more risk takers as people like myself look into opening small businesses. I want to state my position clearly I am all for this eu trade deal. My point is that I hope we regular folks actually see some tangible evident (not doubting) of the positive effects of this trade deal ie going to the grocery store and seeing cheese or milk costing .50 less than it did last year type of thing . Because we humans get lost when it comes to realizing the jobs created Ect Ect . It doesn't matter to the average guy (it does but most dont see it) what matters is optics can people see the savings, can people actually notice a wider selection of goods and services availible to them you know? If the answer is yes ,and Harper gets another majority by the time these things come into effect and we start to feel the positive impacts Harper will be able to stay in gov for a long time!! Just gotta stop the banning of light bulbs and hiding n covering for idiot cabinet memebers.

I agree, Paul. The effects will not be immediately visible. Like NAFTA, it will slowly manifest over the years to come. It will show up in more successful contract negotiations with Canadian companies with European partners. It will slowly show up as marketing pressure on things like Canadian cheess producers. It will weaken EU opposition to Canadian oil imports.

People rightly say a lot of things about Brian Mulroney. But what isn't said often enough is that NAFTA was hugely important to Canada. It was his government's doing, and it was so important that it largely justifies all the other things that happened as well. It's a testament to how much NAFTA bolstered Ontario's economy that it took 15 years of Liberal misrule to drive Ontario into the ground.

And Harper has delivered on free trade with Europe (it would be a lot freer without all our protected agriculture marketing boards). And if he's around long enough, he will deliver on trade agreements with Asia, particularly Japan as well.

Agenda 21 has nothing to do with the trade agreement.

Not so. The deal must be ratified by the EU Council of Ministers and the EU Parliament. Ratification by each of the EU nations' parliaments is only a possibility, and likely only if the Germans force it.

Absolutely right, Ken. The federal government has to negotiate all these deals with the disclaimer that it cannot bind the provinces in areas of their jurisdiction. Usually Quebec play silly buggers and vetos everything, particularly when the PQ is in office. But not this time, kudos to Couillard, and it's a credit to the government to getting the provinces to sign on to this negotiation process and result.

Oh please. Who cares what a 90-year old former Pearson cabinet minister thinks? A man who believes aliens walk among us (80 different species no less) and despite being a former defence minister believes we spend too much on defense (all those aliens must all be thoroughly benign.)

All roads lead to Agenda 21.