Statement from NDP on the Canada-EU trade agreement

After nearly a year of negotiations since the Conservative government claimed they had reached a deal with Europe, the NDP welcomes what now appears to be actual progress towards a Canada-EU Trade Agreement.

The NDP has long maintained that Canada should have deeper economic relations with the European Union – democratic countries with some of the highest environmental and labour standards in the world.

The question Canadians are now asking is whether Conservatives negotiated a good deal for Canada? Unfortunately, Conservatives have kept Parliament and Canadians in the dark throughout the negotiations with talks conducted in secret and without any transparency.

Now that details have been finalized, the text of the agreement should be publicly released and tabled in parliament before the deal is signed.

New Democrats have said all along that when it comes to trade deals, details matter. We will continue to take a responsible approach and wait until the full text is released, its contents are analyzed, and consultations have been completed with stakeholders – including business, labour, local and provincial governments, Aboriginal peoples, and others –to determine if the deal is, on balance, a good deal for Canada.