Ex-adviser to EU foreign policy chief is new ambassador to Canada, focused on CETA
The new European Union ambassador to Canada says his experience working as a top staffer to the EU’s foreign affairs chief focused on the Americas provided a good foundation for understanding Canadian relations and will help him focus the role. For three years, just before coming to Canada, Latvian diplomat Peteris Ustubs served as the Americas […]
Canada’s most-lobbied staffers drive policy tied to federal purse
Canada’s top-lobbied political staffers have “panache,” and are “affable” and “rigorous,” according to those who’ve sat down with the men who are the government’s most-sought officials based on communications reports filed in the federal lobbying registry this year. The three most in-demand staffers are all policy advisers to ministers in important departments connected to Liberal […]
NAFTA 2.0, now with more Britain, could be a boon for Canada
NAFTA was what the British always wanted the European Union to be. It was a free trade agreement that eschewed political union for borders open not to people but to goods and capital. It included a court meant to deal with contract disputes and not the domestic tax policy of the constituent states. British entry […]
How desperate is Trudeau to keep NAFTA? Pretty desperate
TORONTO—How desperate is Justin Trudeau to keep NAFTA? Ask the Mexicans, now peering out from under the proverbial bus—where, you know, Trudeau pushed them. Pretty desperate. As they welcomed the Canadian prime minister to Mexico City on Thursday—and as they gamely extracted the Canadian-made stainless steel that had slipped between their shoulder blades, the Mexicans […]
Canada has options if Trump kills NAFTA
TORONTO—If U.S. President Donald Trump deep-sixes the North American Free Trade Agreement, there are essentially three things that Canada can do. It can try to salvage a bilateral deal with the U.S. It can, in concert with Mexico, keep what remains of NAFTA on life support in the hope that Trump will eventually be replaced […]
Free trade rhetoric has never matched reality
TORONTO—The North American Free Trade Agreement is a tool nobody likes, but everybody needs and uses it. Conversations among the partners are surreal. Since the beginning of the conversations in the late 1980s with the FTA (Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the U.S.), the politicking has always taken over reality. The Canadian Conservatives of […]
Winter Is Coming: Dispatches from Washington, D.C.
Huddled together in a Washington, D.C. law firm (on K Street no less), a group of former prime ministers, ministers,ambassadors, lawyers, and corporate leaders have come together to determine amongst themselves if the North American Free Trade Agreement is alive or dead. A stone’s throw away, the negotiating teams from Canada, Mexico, and the US […]
Scrapping supply management could be a win-win for Canada, U.S.
The prime minister has been clear: his government will do whatever it takes to support middle-class Canadians and those who aspire to be in the middle class. As we head into the fourth round of NAFTA talks, it is an opportune time for Canada to give consideration to whether we should maintain our reliance on […]
German envoy’s return to Canada a ‘dream’ job, will focus on CETA
The first female German ambassador to Canada isn’t new to Ottawa. In fact, her close relationship to the country, stemming from long-standing professional and personal connections, was the reason she “always had [the] dream to come back one day.” Sabine Sparwasser, who presented her credentials to the governor general on Aug. 31, is a career diplomat. […]
Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator Steve Verheul most lobbied federal bureaucrat
In the midst of breakneck North American trade talks, Canada’s chief NAFTA negotiator has kept up constant consultations with affected industries, making him the federal government’s most lobbied bureaucrat. Since the year began, lobbyists have logged 120 communication reports with Steve Verheul, according to a list exported from the federal registry on Sept. 29. It […]
