The NDP hurt Canada
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Updated: November 20, 2009 3:43 PM
The federal government’s battle to win Canada an exemption to controversial “Buy American” provisions in the U.S. stimulus package is not yet lost, but it is nearing the point when victory might soon be meaningless.
The U.S. is just now entering a three-month “peak” period in which about $300 billion in stimulus-funded infrastructure contracts will be awarded. For our Canadian partners who are eager to get an agreement worked out (on Buy American), it’s not too late, according to Chris Whatley, director of the council’s office in Washington.
International Trade Minister Stockwell Day raised the issue again with President Barack Obama at last weekend’s APEC summit in Singapore. He said negotiations were moving in the right direction, but a deal was not going to happen overnight. The slow pace of talks is causing increasing anxiety among Canadian companies that fear being shut out of U.S. contracts they otherwise might have landed.
It’s about Canadian jobs. Even if a deal is reached soon, Mr. Whatley said it will be a huge challenge for Canada to reverse the Buy American mentality that has taken hold in the U.S.
NDP MP Peter Julian’s Private Member’s Bill (C-435—An Act to favour Canadian procurements) was also cited as showing the same discriminatory “me first” attitude from the Canadian side, which undermines Canada’s diplomacy against U.S. protectionism.
Paul Forseth
New Westminster
