Access to government procurements remains a contentious point in
Canada's free-trade negotiations with U.S. and EU officials.
By Paul Brent
T Trading
with procurements
he growth in international trade has made the world smaller, more interconnected, and more complex. It has taken longer, and has received less public attention, but that same dynamic is also occurring when it comes to cross-border government procurement. Living as we do in a sparsely populated, continent-spanning country, Canadians
have long known that trade is essential to our economy and we have crafted trade deals accordingly. With that rising trade, more attention is being paid to Canada's obligations under agreements such as NAFTA, the World Trade Organization, and the still-under-negotiation trade pact with the European Union. The European Union trade discussions and recent tension with the United States over access to federal stimulus spending money have both served to put access to government procurements by foreign companies at centre stage. "The world is quickly changing when it comes to international government procurement," says Brenda Swick, an Ottawa-based partner of McCarthy Tétrault
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