No NAFTA town hall for Manitoba yet
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/08/2017 (2976 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — The federal government is crossing the country to discuss its NAFTA negotiations with the public, but it hasn’t yet planned a stop in Manitoba.
MP Andrew Leslie, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s parliamentary secretary, will visit Saskatchewan, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia over the coming month. Leslie made his first stop on Tuesday, at a university auditorium in Sherbrooke, Que.
Ottawa hasn’t scheduled any more public consultations, and wouldn’t commit on Thursday to a stop in Manitoba.
But Freeland’s office said they’ll announce more talks as the negotiations continue.
The federal government says it’s had extensive outreach prior to NAFTA talks kicking off last week.
Freeland was in Winnipeg on June 8 for a closed-door roundtable about manufacturing, featuring six local businesses, as well as two industry groups and provincial officials. Allan Friesen, a senior executive at K-Tec Earthmovers Inc., was in attendance.
“I thought it was very informative,” Friesen said. “I was impressed they would come and talk to the grassroots people.”
He recalls telling Freeland that while Canadian exporters soak up media attention, his company imports 90 per cent of its materials from the U.S. and it would suffer if Canada increased taxes or red tape for those imports.
He said the talks made him feel “positive” because the U.S. messages about reshaping NAFTA frighten many Canadian entrepreneurs.
“So much of it feels out of our control in many ways,” he said.
Also at the table was Diane Gray, head of CentrePort Canada.
“I found the minister to be extremely well-informed about the key issues with the current agreement, as well as having a good understanding of some of the challenges that businesses face under the agreement that could be improved with a NAFTA 2.0,” Gray said.
Gray said Freeland discussed new technology, visa categories and preserving the dispute-resolution mechanism that often sides with Canada.
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca