Statement by the NDP on the Status of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations

The NDP's International Trade Critic, Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway), made the following statement on the status of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations:

“The Official Opposition calls on the Conservative Government to come clean about the status of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations in light of reports that Germany may refuse to sign the agreement if it contains controversial provisions on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

It is obvious that Conservative spin claiming that a deal has been concluded is false. There are clearly major disagreements on substantive issues, and the reports on ISDS confirm it.

There is no reason we can't expand trade while ensuring governments can legislate and regulate to protect Canadians, especially in areas like health, the environment and social policy.

The German government appears to agree with this position. We call on the Harper government to publicly respond and explain to Canadians their approach."