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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Government has full-court press on free trade
OTTAWA -- Conservative cabinet ministers and MPs were on another coast-to-coast media blitz Friday -- this time to promote a proposed free trade deal with the European Union that hasn't even been signed.
Though the contents of the deal aren't public, that hasn't stopped the Harper government from promising it will create thousands of jobs and add billions to the Canadian economy.
But critics say until the Conservatives disclose what's in the agreement, Canadians shouldn't trust the numbers nor a dog-and-pony show designed to put a positive spin on a bad week for the government.
The national tour was conceived to showcase the positive effects of the agreement for all regions and industries in the country, said International Trade Minister Ed Fast.
Eighteen ministers and MPs were everywhere from a P.E.I. potato plant to a Vancouver cannery, their efforts backed up by a flurry of press releases from industry groups also touting trade.
The government's claims on job creation and investment come from studies that were done before negotiations began as well as recent regional analyses, Fast said in an interview.
"We have a good idea of where our interests lie, we have a good idea of where our offensive interests lie in negotiating an agreement," Fast said.
"We're very optimistic that this will be a high-level, highly ambitious agreement that is going to provide significant benefit to industries right across the country."
Fast said he's committed to concluding negotiations this year, but earlier this week the European Union signalled that could be overly optimistic.
The Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria are angry their citizens are now required to have visas to come to Canada and could refuse to ratify any agreement.
Fast sloughed off those concerns.
"We have kept those issues on a completely separate track," he said.
-- The Canadian Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 28, 2012 B8
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