Senate adopts Asia-Pacific trade deal as Canada becomes fifth nation to adopt CPTPP

Legislation to implement the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal has cleared the Senate after just a week of study.

The bill is slated to receive royal assent later today, at which point Canada will be in the final stages of adopting an agreement that covers more than $ 425 billion in trade each year.

While Canada already has signed the CPTPP, it is necessary to make the most of the laws and regulations.

Even after this Senate vote, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet will have to make some regulatory tweaks, through orders in council, before formally ratifying the trade deal.

The agreement comes into force 60 days after six of the 11 signatories have ratified it through legislation.

Canada now joins other countries that have done so done: New Zealand, Mexico City, Japan and Singapore. Two other countries – Vietnam and Australia – are in the advanced stages of debate.

International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr will speak at the media at 4:45 pm ET to discuss the CPTPP. CBCNews.ca will carry his remarks live.

One of the first countries in the world to be economically significant for Canada as a first-mover advantage.

A concrete example of this first-mover advantage can be found in Canadian beef and pork exports to Japan.

If Canada is part of the agreement when it first comes into force, beef and pork exporters will be more likely to use it because of their preference for U.S. exports.

(US President Donald Trump pulled out of the TPP, brokered by President Barack Obama, shortly after he was elected. .)

Fast work

Thus, farm interests and other trade have had a long history of implementation of the bill, C-79, and the foregoing extensive review of the status of consultation and parliamentary work.

Members of the Senate's foreign affairs and international trade committee – a clause-by-clause review of the bill – in just three sittings over the course of a single week. The committee heard from labor, business interests and agri-food lobby groups. The committee's chair, Conservative Saskatchewan Sen. Raynell Andreychuk, said committee members were "efficient with their time."

Thursday afternoon.

Despite the lobbying efforts, at least one group has been urging the Senate to slow down its review of the Council of Canadians.

The council urged the Senate to serve as a successor to the Commons quickly, did not heed.

'Reckless' ratification

"The ratification process of the CPTPP has been reckless," Maude Barlow, the honorary chairperson of the Council of Canadians, said in a statement to CBC News Thursday.

"The Trudeau government has long been in favor of the CPTPP as it has done so. Canadian regulations and standards.

"The Senate foreign relations committee similarly ignored the advice of so many Canadians and rubber-stamped the deal with little debate or information sharing.This is a shame because there are serious flaws in this agreement.

The benefits of the CPTPP are said to be large, representing some 495 million consumers. The deal will eliminate up to 95 per cent of tariff lines among the parties.

The chief economist at Global Affairs Canada has said the CPTPP will generate $ 4.2 billion.

"Canada must diversify it's trading relationships," said Brian Kingston, the director of international and fiscal issues at the Business Council of Canada, noting more than 76 per cent of Canada's exports are still destined for the U.S.

"With growing protectionism in the US, the need to diversify has never been clear." Asia is the growth engine of the global economy and Canada must make the most of the growth of exports. . "

Not everyone is convinced. Businesses in some sectors – <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br>