New Report: Reimagining Canada’s approach to international trade

February 7, 2017

Senator Ngo along with Senator Andreychuk, and Senator Down announced the release of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade report entitled: Free Trade Agreements: A Tool for Economic Prosperity. This report makes nine recommendations to increase public involvement and parliamentary oversight of these agreements and to establish standards by which the success of an agreement would be measured.

These recommendations include:

  • That the federal government establish a formal consultation process before negotiations begin that would be open to all Canadians
  • That the government identify — before a trade agreement is ratified — measures designed to help Canadians benefit from the proposed agreement and that would mitigate any potentially adverse effects.
  • That the government articulate the rational for a given trade deal so that Canadians will be in a position to assess whether it has met its objectives.
  • That the government make quarterly reports to the committee and to the House of Commons International Trade Committee so parliamentarians and the public alike can be properly informed.