Canada Details U.S. Free Trade Agreement as Opposition Protest Begins

Canada on Tuesday unveiled details of the proposed Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, touching off a bitter struggle with the opposition parties certain to spill over into a general election.

The Progressive Conservative government’s long-awaited legislation authorizing the deal, released in the House of Commons, was greeted with immediate opposition delaying tactics designed to stall passage of the sweeping trade pact.

Trade Minister John Crosbie was only able to introduce the massive legislation after nearly three hours of procedural wrangling that held up routine parliamentary debate.

“Lower consumer prices, additional new jobs and real income gains will be realized in each region of our country as a direct result of this agreement,” Crosbie told a news conference.

However, Crosbie was confident that Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative Party can push the legislation through because it controls 208 seats in the 282-member House of Commons.

“We have the majority of members and therefore Parliament, after a reasonable time for debate, has to make a decision. We will use the rules to see that it does,” Crosbie said last week.

The legislation is required to clear the way for implementation of the agreement signed by Mulroney and President Reagan and due to take effect in stages beginning January 1, 1989.

Canada and the United States already share the world’s largest trading relationship, with two-way trade this year valued at about $150 billion.

The deal would eliminate remaining tariff and non-tariff barriers over a 10-year period and send future disputes to a binational panel for binding rulings.

Hearings are also under way in the U.S. Congress to approve the agreement.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee approved the accord last week, but it attached provisions that embarrassed Canada. The senators demanded that Mulroney guarantee compliance by Canada’s 10 provinces and called for new restrictions on Canadian plywood and lobsters.

Crosbie fired off protest notes to Washington and said the plywood and lobster issues could provide the first test case for the binational trade panels the agreement would create.

But a bigger headache for Mulroney is opposition within Canada, where polls show public opinion split on free trade.

Both main opposition parties--the Liberals and New Democrats--are against the pact and have vowed to use every parliamentary tool to block implementing legislation.

“We think it is a terrible deal for the long-range history of Canada, and we will do everything we can to stop it,” said New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent, who claims Mulroney traded away sovereignty in exchange for temporary relief from U.S. protectionism.

Liberal spokesman Herb Gray said the stalling tactics were “part of our strategy to fight the Tories every step of the way.”

The Mulroney government has made the trade deal the cornerstone of its economic policy, arguing that secure access to the U.S. market is vital for the Canadian economy.