Ottawa | Reuters — Canada and China have agreed on a solution to a trade dispute over $2 billion worth of annual canola sales, lasting to 2020, leaders of the two countries said on Thursday. The solution is “predictable, science-based and stable,” ensuring access for Canadian shipments to China, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said […] Read more

China, Canada resolve canola dispute until 2020

Statistics data safe, official says, after agency head quits
Ottawa | Reuters — Statistics Canada data is safely stored and outsiders have no chance of accessing it, a senior official said on Monday after the chief statistician quit in protest over concerns about the agency’s independence. Canada’s Liberal government, which took power last November, is trying to resolve a number of major technological problems […] Read more

China raps Ottawa as dispute over canola exports deepens
Ottawa | Reuters — A dispute over $2 billion worth of Canadian canola exports to China intensified on Thursday when Beijing criticized Ottawa’s insistence that bilateral relations could not improve until the matter is settled. The situation threatens to mar Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to China next week. “We oppose linking a concrete […] Read more

Canada, EU finally settle trade deal after opposition
Ottawa/Brussels | Reuters — The European Union has convinced Canada to include a new way of settling investor claims in their trade deal, making it more likely that it will be passed and putting the U.S. under pressure to accept the same terms. The two sides wrapped up negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade […] Read more

Environment commissioner criticizes neonic registrations
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s official environmental watchdog on Tuesday expressed concern that authorities were allowing the long-term use of pesticides linked to bee deaths despite not having enough information about the products. Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) can grant a five-year provisional license to some products to give manufacturers time to provide […] Read more

Canada to sign TPP, but undecided on ratification
Ottawa | Reuters –– Canada’s new Liberal government will take the “technical step” of signing a 12-nation trade deal next week but has not yet decided whether to formally ratify the agreement, Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday. Canada is one of 12 nations that initialed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in early October after years […] Read more

Canada seen dawdling on TPP ratification
Reuters — Canada is set to hold back on ratifying a key Asia-Pacific trade treaty, a move that would assuage critics but might hamper Washington’s bid to build domestic support for the deal, according to sources close to the talks. Canada is one of 12 nations that initialed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in early October, […] Read more

Election shifts attention to trade deal as race narrows
Ottawa | Reuters –– Trailing in second place with two weeks left before Canada’s election, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a new trade deal Monday that largely protects the key agricultural voting bloc, putting pressure on opponents who had hoped to have more to attack. Harper touted the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a good deal […] Read more

Canada says TPP offers limited access to dairy market
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada said on Monday that a major trade deal agreed by 12 Pacific nations would only allow limited access to protected Canadian domestic dairy and poultry markets, a politically sensitive issue ahead of the Oct. 19 election. Officials said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would offer up just 3.25 per cent of […] Read more

NDP would not feel bound by Pacific trade deal
Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s main opposition party said Friday that if it won an Oct. 19 election, it would not feel bound by the terms of a major Pacific trade deal the ruling Conservatives are negotiating in the United States. The New Democrats, currently trailing third in the polls, said in a letter to […] Read more