Foe in Congress Says Canada Vote Shows NAFTA’s Flaws : Trade: Democratic whip declares that a new treaty should be negotiated. But the Administration vows to press ahead.

A leading opponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Tuesday painted Monday’s election results in Canada as “a clear and powerful message” that the pact is flawed, while Administration officials insisted the vote will have no effect on their campaign to win congressional approval of the accord.

“There’s nothing to renegotiate,” U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said in response to suggestions by newly elected Liberal Party leaders in Canada that new trade talks might be in order.

But as the Administration tried to gain the support of recalcitrant House members, Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.), Democratic whip and a leader of the opposition, said that the vote “spells trouble for this NAFTA.”

Holding up a copy of the Liberal Party platform at a news conference, Bonior declared: “The people of Canada sent a clear and powerful message: This NAFTA won’t work. It’s fatally flawed. It’s time to go back to the drawing board. It’s time to go back with a new generation of leadership from all three countries, and come up with a new treaty.”

If approved by the House and Senate, the agreement negotiated by the United States, Mexico and Canada would eliminate tariffs and other obstacles to free trade among the countries over the next 15 years. It would take effect Jan. 1.

But the election victory by the Liberals in Canada has raised some questions in Washington about the future of the agreement, which faces an uphill battle in the House.

The Canadian Parliament already had approved the agreement, and the last steps before implementation in Canada were a formal government proclamation and approval by the United States and Mexico.

But Jean Chretien, the Liberal Party leader and Canada’s prime minister-elect, indicated during his campaign that he might want to renegotiate the trade pact. It was that stance that the agreement’s opponents in Washington seized upon Tuesday.

Rep. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N.J.), who has not declared how he will vote, wrote to President Clinton asking that the vote on the accord, scheduled for Nov. 17, be delayed in light of the Canadian election. Clinton dismissed such an approach.

“We should just go ahead,” he told reporters. “All the countries involved have a lot at stake in proceeding, so that’s what we plan to do.”

Meanwhile, the Administration, in its effort to find ways to compensate for the revenue that would be lost if the tariff-eliminating trade pact goes into effect, has developed a plan that would raise fees charged travelers entering the United States by air or sea, from $5 to $6.50, according to Leon E. Panetta, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.