Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Announces CETA Implementation

The ink has barely dried on CETA and, already, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) already has an implementation bill on the notice paper. Some reports say that CETA could be implemented as soon as December.

Yesterday, we broke the story on the devastating news that CETA has been signed. The so-called “trade” agreement would see numerous laws being passed that have very little to do with trade. As we found out last year, the agreement would implement a global DMCA, enact censorship through site blocking, and even bring into law a so-called three strikes law that has been widely dismissed as an ineffective measure to combat copyright infringement.

Others have criticized the agreement for its ISDS (Inter-State Dispute Settlement) provisions. Critics warn that the ISDS provisions would set up an international tribunal that would allow multinational corporations to sue governments if laws are passed that get in the way of profits or future potential profits. Under NAFTA, the dispute must be handled by a domestic court system. So, it would further erode the governments power to enact and enforce laws.

Of course, as we said in a previous report, there’s a big difference between an agreement being signed and being ratified. Given how there has been very little movement with the ratification of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), you could be forgiven for believing that such a process takes a very long time. Unfortunately, this may not be the case for CETA.

According to a report from iPolitics (hat tip @mgeist), a CETA implementation bill is already on the notice paper. Ratification of the agreement could happen as soon as December. From the report:

A government bill titled “An Act to implement the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union and its Member States and to provide for certain other measures” will be tabled Monday, Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland announced in the House of Commons foyer — only a day after the agreement was signed in Brussels.

“Today, the government will be tabling CETA and the implementing legislation for review,” Freeland said, accompanied by parliamentary secretary David Lametti, chief negotiator Steve Verheul and CETA envoy Pierre Pettigrew.

“I’d also like to point out, with great pleasure, that while we were in Brussels yesterday Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said in a statement … that he was aiming to hold a vote in the European Parliament on CETA ratification in December.”

The notice can be found on the Parliamentary website which states:

October 28, 2016 — The Minister of International Trade — Bill entitled “An Act to implement the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union and its Member States and to provide for certain other measures”.

What is particularly interesting in this is the date. The agreement was signed off on the 30th, yet the notice paper is dated two days prior. This means that the ratification/implementation process started long before Wallonia caved on the deal. It would appear that Trudeau can’t seem to implement these laws fast enough.

Unfortunately, we can’t find a copy of the implementation bill yet. We don’t know what the implementation would look like. Still, given how rushed the Liberals are to implementing this agreement, it may not take long for a full copy to be released to the public.

Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.

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