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134-610: The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement ( CETA ; French: accord économique et commercial global , AECG ; German: Umfassendes Wirtschafts- und Handelsabkommen ) is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its member states. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts. The negotiations were concluded in August 2014. All 27 European Union member states and former member state United Kingdom approved

268-567: A Canada-European Union trade agreement (later renamed as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA), and this agreement will go beyond the TIEA toward an agreement with a much broader and more ambitious scope. An agreement in principle was signed by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso on 18 October 2013. The negotiations were concluded on 1 August 2014. The trade agreement

402-493: A May 2005, budget vote. If the story had been proved true, the actions may have been grounds for charges as a criminal offence as under the Criminal Code , it is illegal to bribe an MP. When asked by Vancouver journalist Tom Zytaruk about the alleged life insurance offer then-opposition leader Stephen Harper states on an audio tape "I don't know the details. I know there were discussions" and goes on to say "The offer to Chuck

536-457: A Montreal hotel. On September 9, 2004, the three signed a letter addressed to the governor general , Adrienne Clarkson , stating, "We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult

670-745: A Product Originating in the European Union" (pp. 363–347). CETA does not necessarily alter EU non-tariff barriers such as European regulations on beef, which include a ban on the use of growth hormones, but it could do so. Given the cooperation mechanisms institutionalized through the Agreement, this cannot be ruled out. Canadian stakeholders have criticized the EU's delays in the approval process for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and GMO traceability and labelling requirements, none of which are addressed in CETA. Both

804-522: A Walloon Parliament committee. However, the next day the Walloon Parliament affirmed its opposition. Walloon Minister-President Paul Magnette led the intra-Belgian opposition shortly before the planned signature. The intra-Belgian disagreement was solved in the final days of October, paving the way for CETA's signature. On 28 October, the Belgian regional parliaments allowed Full Powers to be given to

938-530: A candidate in the next federal election . He resigned his parliamentary seat on January 14, 1997, the same day that he was appointed as a vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC), a conservative think-tank and advocacy group. He was promoted to NCC president later in the year. In April 1997, Harper suggested that the Reform Party was drifting toward social conservatism and ignoring

1072-651: A challenge by Belgium, the European Court of Justice upheld the agreement on 30 April 2019, in its opinion 1/17, that the dispute resolution mechanism complies with EU law. The agreement is still only provisionally applied, because only 17 EU member States have ratified the agreement so far. The European Commission indicates the treaty will lead to savings of just over half a billion euros in taxes for EU exporters every year, mutual recognition in regulated professions such as architects, accountants and engineers, and easier transfers of company staff and other professionals between

1206-597: A coalition government with the Bloc and NDP in response to Harper's allegations that the Liberals may form a coalition with the Bloc and the NDP. The Conservative Party's first policy convention was held from March 17 to 19, 2005, in Montreal . Harper had been rumoured to be shifting his ideology closer to that of a Blue Tory , and many thought he'd wanted to move the party's policies closer to

1340-542: A confidence vote the following week. Ultimately, the effort to bring down the Martin government failed following the decision of Conservative MP Belinda Stronach to cross the floor to the Liberal Party. The vote on the NDP amendment to the budget tied, and with the speaker of the House voting to continue the debate, the Liberals stayed in power. At the time, some considered the matter to be a constitutional crisis . Harper

1474-484: A country's national welfare. Both trade creation and trade diversion are crucial effects found upon the establishment of an FTA. Trade creation will cause consumption to shift from a high-cost producer to a low-cost one, and trade will thus expand. In contrast, trade diversion will lead to trade shifting from a lower-cost producer outside the area to a higher-cost one inside the FTA. Such a shift will not benefit consumers within

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1608-525: A divided opposition. Harper and Flanagan argued that federal conservative governments between 1917 and 1993 were founded on temporary alliances between Western populists and Quebec nationalists , and were unable to govern because of their fundamental contradictions. The authors called for an alliance of Canada's conservative parties, and suggested that meaningful political change might require electoral reforms such as proportional representation . "Our Benign Dictatorship" also commended Conrad Black 's purchase of

1742-642: A former United Church of Canada moderator. Harper told a reporter during the campaign that he "despise[d]" Phipps, and declined to debate him. Harper officially became the leader of the Official Opposition in May 2002. Later in the same month, he said that the Atlantic Provinces were trapped in "a culture of defeat" which had to be overcome, the result of policies designed by Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments. Many Atlantic politicians condemned

1876-481: A free-trade area exclusively grant each other go beyond their accession commitments. Although Article XXIV of the GATT allows WTO members to establish free-trade areas or to adopt interim agreements necessary for the establishment thereof, there are several conditions with respect to free-trade areas, or interim agreements leading to the formation of free-trade areas. Firstly, duties and other regulations maintained in each of

2010-568: A given case". A free trade agreement is a reciprocal agreement, which is allowed by Article XXIV of the GATT. Whereas, autonomous trade arrangements in favor of developing and least developed countries are permitted by the Decision on Differential and More Favorable Treatment, Reciprocity and Fuller Participation of Developing Countries adopted by signatories to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1979 (the “Enabling Clause”). It

2144-654: A letter to The Wall Street Journal in which they condemned the Canadian government's unwillingness to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq . As party leader, Harper sought to merge the Alliance with the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) to create a united right-of-centre party. The possibility of a united conservative party increased after Peter Mackay was elected Progressive Conservative leader in May 2003. On October 16, 2003, Harper and Mackay agreed to merge

2278-425: A motion of no confidence on the Martin government, telling the House of Commons "that this government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons and needs to be removed". As the Liberals had lost NDP support in the house by refusing to accept an NDP plan to prevent health care privatization, the no-confidence motion was passed by a vote of 171–133. It was the first time that a Canadian government had been toppled by

2412-544: A new system of courts. Opponents consider that CETA would weaken European consumer rights, including high EU standards concerning food safety , and criticize it as a boon only for big business and multinational corporations , while risking net-losses, unemployment, and environmental damage impacting individual citizens. The deal also includes a controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism which makes critics fear that multinational corporations could sue national governments for billions of dollars if they thought that

2546-615: A number of international business and leadership roles, founding a global consulting firm, appearing in US and British media, and being elected leader of the International Democracy Union . Harper was born and raised in Leaside , a neighbourhood of Toronto , Ontario, the first of three sons of Margaret (née Johnston) and Joseph Harris Harper, an accountant at Imperial Oil . The Harper family traces its ancestral roots back to Sledmere ,

2680-423: A number of other fields, from services to e-commerce and data localization . Since transactions among parties to an FTA are relatively cheaper as compared to those with non-parties, FTAs are conventionally found to be excludable . Now that deep trade deals will enhance regulatory harmonization and increase trade flows with non-parties, thus reducing the excludability of FTA benefits, new generation FTAs are obtaining

2814-410: A permanent dispute settlement tribunal. The tribunal will consist of 15 members named by Canada and the EU, dealing with individual cases in panels of three. An appeals mechanism will be established to ensure "legal correctness" of awards. The tribunal's members may not appear as experts or party counsel in other investment cases. It was initially unclear whether or not the EU member states had to ratify

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2948-534: A result of a Government of Canada " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada) and other scandals surrounding his government. The Liberals attempted to counter this with an early election call, as this would give the Conservatives less time to consolidate their merger. This, along with an unpopular provincial budget by Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty in Ontario, moved

3082-404: A state had violated its Non Discriminatory Treatment obligations (CETA, section 3, p 156 f) or because of a violation of the guaranteed investment protection. This license exists only in one direction—states cannot sue companies in these investor-state arbitrations. Such investors complaints are nothing new under public international law ( UNCTAD listed 514 such cases at the end of 2012, most from

3216-453: A straight motion of no confidence proposed by the opposition. As a result, Parliament was dissolved and a general election was scheduled for January 23, 2006. On February 27, 2008, allegations surfaced that two Conservative Party officials offered terminally ill, independent MP Chuck Cadman a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote to bring down the Liberal government in

3350-573: A three-part study commissioned by the European Commission to independent experts and completed in September 2011, provided a comprehensive prediction on the impacts of CETA. It predicts a number of macro-economic and sector-specific impacts, suggesting the EU may see increases in real GDP of 0.02–0.03% in the long-term from CETA, whereas Canada may see increases of 0.18–0.36%; the Investment section of

3484-466: A variety of impacts in various "cross-cutting" components of CETA: it advocates against controversial NAFTA-style ISDS provisions; predicts potentially imbalanced benefits from a government procurement (GP) chapter; assumes CETA will lead to an upward harmonization in IPR regulations, particularly changing Canadian IPR laws; and predicts impacts in terms of competition policy and several other areas. Canada and

3618-516: A village in Yorkshire , England , with Harper's 4th great-grandfather Christopher having emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1774, where he later served as justice of the peace in the area that is now New Brunswick . Harper attended Northlea Public School and, later, John G. Althouse Middle School and Richview Collegiate Institute , both in Etobicoke , Toronto. He graduated from high school in 1978, and

3752-560: A written undertaking to cancel visa requirements for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals visiting Canada for business and tourism, within a timeframe no later than the end of 2017, Canada lifted visa requirements for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens on 1 December 2017. Section 4 of CETA (pages 158–161) provides Investment Protection to foreign investors, and guarantees a "fair and equitable treatment and full protection and security". CETA allows foreign corporations to sue states before arbitral tribunals if they claim to have suffered losses because

3886-748: Is also considered as that arising in another party. In preferential rules of origin , such differential treatment is normally provided for in the cumulation or accumulation provision. Such clause further explains the trade creation and trade diversion effects of an FTA mentioned above, because a party to an FTA has the incentive to use inputs originating in another party so that their products may qualify for originating status. The database on trade agreements provided by ITC's Market Access Map. Since there are hundreds of FTAs currently in force and being negotiated (about 800 according to ITC's Rules of Origin Facilitator, counting also non-reciprocal trade arrangements), it

4020-518: Is compatible with EU law. The agreement could not come into force until the ECJ had given its opinion nor if the ECJ opinion were to be that CETA is incompatible with EU law. On 30 April 2019, the European Court of Justice gave its opinion that the system for the resolution of disputes between investors and states in CETA is compatible with EU law. In Costello v. Government of Ireland , in September 2021,

4154-689: Is important for businesses and policy-makers to keep track of their status. There are a number of depositories of free trade agreements available either at national, regional or international levels. Some significant ones include the database on Latin American free trade agreements constructed by the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), the database maintained by the Asian Regional Integration Center (ARIC) providing information agreements of Asian countries, and

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4288-411: Is legitimate under WTO law, but the parties to a free-trade area are not permitted to treat non-parties less favorably than before the area is established. A second requirement stipulated by Article XXIV is that tariffs and other barriers to trade must be eliminated to substantially all the trade within the free-trade area. Free trade agreements forming free-trade areas generally lie outside the realm of

4422-572: Is no appeal mechanism against arbitration awards comparable to scrutiny of court judgments, awards made under CETA are subject to ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) annulment proceedings if the claim is brought under the ICSID Rules, or setting-aside proceedings if the claim is brought under the UNCITRAL Rules or any other rules the parties have agreed on. Only after time limits set for these review mechanisms have lapsed,

4556-623: Is not a coalition, but this is a co-operative effort." On October 4, Mike Duffy , who was later appointed as a Conservative senator by Harper, said: "It is possible that you could change prime minister without having an election." He added that some Conservatives wanted Harper to temporarily become prime minister without holding an election. The next day, Layton walked out on talks with Harper and Duceppe, accusing them of trying to replace Paul Martin with Harper as prime minister. Both Bloc and Conservative officials denied Layton's accusations. On March 26, 2011, Duceppe stated that Harper had tried to form

4690-544: Is not the case. Part of the Agreement is stricter enforcement of intellectual property, including liability for Internet Service Providers , a ban on technologies that can be used to circumvent copyright. After failure of ACTA the copyright language in CETA was substantially watered down. The following provisions remain: These are just the copyright provisions. There are sections dealing with patents, trademarks, designs, and (coming soon) geographical indications. These include: On 22 October 2012, five Polish NGOs criticized

4824-453: Is the Parliament that's supposed to run the country, not just the largest party and the single leader of that party. That's a criticism I've had and that we've had and that most Canadians have had for a long, long time now so this is an opportunity to start to change that." At the time, Harper and the two other opposition leaders denied trying to form a coalition government . Harper said, "This

4958-721: Is the WTO's legal basis for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Both free trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements (as named by the WTO) are considered as derogation to the MFN principle. In general, trade diversion means that an FTA would divert trade away from more efficient suppliers outside the area towards less efficient ones within the areas. Whereas, trade creation implies that an FTA area creates trade which may not have otherwise existed. In all cases trade creation will raise

5092-468: Is the destination of 21.4% of Canadian direct investment abroad. According to Eurostat , the EU identified Canada as its third largest destination and its fourth largest source of FDI in 2007. Many of its provisions on copyright were initially thought to be identical to the controversial ACTA , which was rejected by the European Parliament in 2012. The European Commission has indicated that this

5226-574: Is the system of embedded tribunals which act as arbitrators in international trade disputes. These serve as a force of clarification for existing statutes and international economic policies as affirmed in the trade treaties. The second way in which FTAs are considered public goods is tied to the evolving trend of them becoming “deeper”. The depth of an FTA refers to the added types of structural policies that it covers. While older trade deals are deemed “shallower” as they cover fewer areas (such as tariffs and quotas), more recently concluded agreements address

5360-511: Is the tribunal's final award to "be binding between the disputing parties and in respect of that particular case". (article X.39: Enforcement of awards, p. 177) On 26 March 2014, German Economics Minister Sigmar Gabriel wrote an open letter to EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht , stating that investment protection was central sensitive point, which could in the end decide whether a transatlantic free trade agreement would meet with German approval. He further stated that investment arbitration

5494-437: Is their approach to third parties . While a customs union requires all parties to establish and maintain identical external tariffs with regard to trade with non-parties, parties to a free-trade area are not subject to such a requirement. Instead, they may establish and maintain whatever tariff regime applying to imports from non-parties as they deem necessary. In a free-trade area without harmonized external tariffs, to eliminate

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5628-645: The Federal Accountability Act , the Québécois nation motion , and the Veterans' Bill of Rights . After the 2008 federal election , in which the Conservatives won a larger minority, Harper prorogued Parliament to defeat a non-confidence motion by a potential coalition of opposition parties , passed the Economic Action Plan of major personal income tax cuts and infrastructure investments in response to

5762-479: The 1993 federal election and defeated Jim Hawkes amid a significant Reform breakthrough in Western Canada. The National Citizens Coalition (NCC) ran a $ 50,000 print and television campaign against Hawkes but did not endorse Harper directly. Harper emerged a prominent member of the Reform Party caucus. He was active on constitutional issues and played a prominent role in drafting the Reform Party's strategy for

5896-618: The 1995 Quebec referendum . A long-standing opponent of centralized federalism , he stood with Preston Manning in Montreal to introduce a twenty-point plan to "decentralize and modernize" Canada in the event of a "no" victory. Harper later argued that the "no" side's narrow plurality was a worst-case scenario, in that no-one had won a mandate for change. Harper has expressed some socially conservative views on certain issues. In 1994, he opposed plans by federal Justice Minister Allan Rock to introduce spousal benefits for same-sex couples. Citing

6030-553: The 2001 Alberta provincial election , Harper led the NCC in a "Vote Anything but Liberal" campaign. Some articles from this period described him as a possible successor to Klein. Harper and the NCC endorsed a private school tax credit proposed by Ontario's Progressive Conservative government in 2001, arguing that it would "save about $ 7,000 for each student who does not attend a union -run public school". Education Minister Janet Ecker criticized this, saying that her government's intent

6164-572: The Bundestag and Bundesrat would not take place before the Federal Constitutional Court judgment as taken place. In March 2022, the court approved the provisional application of the agreement but indicated that provisions concerning arbitral tribunals might be unconstitutional. In June 2022, Germany's governing coalition agreed to ratify the agreement after the noted provisions on arbitral tribunals are renegotiated and adjusted to address

6298-610: The Canadian Firearms Registry at second reading in 1995, although he later voted against it at third reading stage. He said at the time that he initially voted for the registry because of a poll showing that most of his constituents supported it, and added that he changed his vote when a second poll showed the opposite result. It was reported in April 1995, that some Progressive Conservatives opposed to Jean Charest 's leadership wanted to remove both Charest and Manning, and unite

6432-856: The Canadian Wheat Board , repealed the long-gun registry , passed the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015 , launched Canada's Global Markets Action Plan , and grappled with controversies surrounding the Canadian Senate expenses scandal and the Robocall scandal . In the 2015 federal election , the Conservative Party lost power to the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau . Harper officially stepped down as party leader on October 19, 2015, and resigned his seat on August 26, 2016. Since then, Harper has taken on

6566-515: The Charlottetown Accord . Harper opposed the accord on principle for ideological reasons, while Manning was initially more open to compromise. Harper also criticized Manning's decision to hire Rick Anderson as an adviser, believing that Anderson was not sufficiently committed to the Reform Party's principles. Harper resigned as the policy chief in October 1992. Harper stood for office again in

6700-635: The Great Recession , introduced the tax-free savings account , and ordered military intervention during the First Libyan Civil War . In March 2011, a no-confidence vote found his government to be in contempt of Parliament , triggering a federal election in which the Conservatives won a majority government . During his third term, Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol , launched Operation Impact in opposition to ISIL , privatized

6834-525: The Irish High Court rejected a challenge brought against ratification of the treaty by Green Party member of parliament, Patrick Costello . The judge, Nuala Butler , found that CETA did not entail an unconstitutional transfer of the State's sovereignty. She also found that tribunals established by CETA would not have jurisdiction to declare any provision of Irish law invalid. In addition she found that it

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6968-665: The National Citizens Coalition , a conservative lobbyist group. In 2002 , he succeeded Stockwell Day as leader of the Canadian Alliance , the successor to the Reform Party, and returned to parliament as leader of the Official Opposition . In 2003, Harper negotiated the merger of the Canadian Alliance with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada and

7102-817: The Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2016). Following the signature, the consent by the European Parliament and the ratification by Canada, CETA applies provisionally since 21 September 2017, awaiting its ratification by the European Union member states, the European Union and Canada. The procedure is completed when the instrument of ratification is deposited and in many countries requires parliamentary approval. As of August 2023, eighteen states have deposited their instruments of ratification: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and

7236-630: The Southam newspaper chain, arguing that his stewardship would provide for a "pluralistic" editorial view to counter the "monolithically liberal and feminist " approach of the previous management. Harper remained active in constitutional issues. He was a prominent opponent of the Calgary Declaration on national unity in late 1997, describing it as an "appeasement strategy" against Quebec nationalism. He called for federalist politicians to reject this strategy, and approach future constitutional talks from

7370-472: The cod moratorium, which was instituted in 1992 . The Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria had declared they would not endorse the agreement, in effect scuppering the entire agreement, until the visa requirements for their citizens entering Canada were lifted. All other EU countries already had visa free travel to Canada. Visas requirements were lifted for the Czech Republic on 14 November 2013. After giving

7504-451: The "best of Canada's heritage—a combination of American enterprise and individualism with the British traditions of order and co-operation" while Canada "appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country ... led by a second-world strongman appropriately suited for the task". He also called for a "stronger and much more autonomous Alberta", while rejecting calls for separatism . In

7638-461: The "moral authority to govern". Shortly thereafter, the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois united to defeat the government on a vote that some considered to be either a confidence motion or else a motion requiring an immediate test of the confidence of the House. The Martin government did not accept this interpretation and argued that vote had been on a procedural motion, although they also indicated that they would bring forward their revised budget for

7772-617: The Canada-EU Summit in Ottawa on 18 March 2004 where leaders agreed to a framework for a new Canada-EU Trade and Investment Enhancement Agreement (TIEA). The TIEA was intended to move beyond traditional market access issues, to include areas such as trade and investment facilitation, competition, mutual recognition of professional qualifications, financial services, e-commerce, temporary entry, small- and medium-sized enterprises, sustainable development , and sharing science and technology. The TIEA

7906-611: The Canadian Alliance was shifting "more towards being a party of the religious right ". After the death of Pierre Trudeau in 2000, Harper wrote an editorial criticizing Trudeau's policies as they affected Western Canada. He wrote that Trudeau "embraced the fashionable causes of his time, with variable enthusiasm and differing results", but "took a pass" on the issues that "truly defined his century". Harper subsequently accused Trudeau of promoting "unabashed socialism", and argued that Canadian governments between 1972 and 2002 had restricted economic growth through "state corporatism". After

8040-565: The Canadian Alliance's poor showing in the 2000 election , Harper joined with other Western conservatives in co-authoring a document called the " Alberta Agenda ". The letter called on Alberta to reform publicly funded health care, replace the Canada Pension Plan with a provincial plan and replace the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with a provincial police force. It became known as the "firewall letter", because it called on

8174-460: The Conservatives into a lead for a time. However, comments by Conservative MPs, leaked press releases accusing the then prime minister of supporting child pornography , as well as attack ads suggesting that the Conservatives had a secret agenda, caused Harper's party to lose some momentum. The Liberals were re-elected to power with a minority government, with the Conservatives coming in second place. The Conservatives managed to make inroads into

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8308-541: The EU and Canada will retain the right to regulate freely in areas of public interest such as environmental protection, or people's health and safety. The provincial Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has argued that the Federal Government of Canada in Ottawa reneged on a deal to pay $ 280 million in exchange for its relinquishment of minimum processing requirements as part of CETA. Those rules helped protect jobs in fish plants, especially in rural areas hit hard by

8442-461: The EU and Canada. The European Commission claims CETA will create a more level playing field between Canada and the EU on intellectual property rights. Proponents of CETA emphasize that the agreement will boost trade between the EU and Canada and thus create new jobs, facilitate business operations by abolishing customs duties, goods checks, and various other levies, facilitate mutual recognition of diplomas and regulate investment disputes by creating

8576-411: The EU have a long history of economic co-operation. Comprising 28 Member States with a total population of over 500 million and a GDP of €13.0 trillion in 2012, the European Union (EU) is the world's second largest single market, foreign investor and trader. As an integrated bloc, the EU represents Canada's second largest trading partner in goods and services. In 2008, Canadian goods and services exports to

8710-454: The EU totalled C$ 52.2 billion, an increase of 3.9% from 2007, and imports from the EU amounted to $ 62.4 billion. According to Statistics Canada , the EU is also the second largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Canada, with the stock of FDI amounting to $ 133.1 billion at the end of 2008. In 2008, the stock of Canada's direct investment in the EU totalled $ 136.6 billion, and the EU

8844-418: The FTA as they are deprived the opportunity to purchase cheaper imported goods. However, economists find that trade diversion does not always harm aggregate national welfare: it can even improve aggregate national welfare if the volume of diverted trade is small. Economists have made attempts to evaluate the extent to which FTAs can be considered public goods . They first address one key element of FTAs, which

8978-417: The Liberals in the scandal, opinion polls placed the Conservatives ahead of Liberals. The Conservatives had earlier abstained from the vote on the 2005 budget to avoid forcing an election. With the collapse in Liberal support and a controversial NDP amendment to the budget, the party exerted significant pressure on Harper to bring down the government. In May, Harper announced that Martin's Liberals had lost

9112-463: The Liberals' Ontario stronghold, primarily in the province's socially conservative central region. However, they were shut out of Quebec, marking the first time that a centre-right party did not win any seats in that province. Harper, after some personal deliberation, decided to stay on as the party leader. Two months after the federal election, Harper privately met Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton in

9246-464: The NCC in several campaigns against the Canadian Wheat Board , and supported Finance Minister Paul Martin 's 2000 tax cuts as a positive first step toward tax reform. In 1997, Harper delivered a controversial speech on Canadian identity to the Council for National Policy , a conservative American think tank . He made comments such as "Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of

9380-519: The NCC presidency in August 2001, to prepare a campaign. Stockwell Day called a new Canadian Alliance leadership race for 2002, and soon declared himself a candidate. Harper emerged as Day's main rival, and declared his own candidacy on December 3, 2001. He eventually won the support of at least 28 Alliance MPs, including Scott Reid , James Rajotte and Keith Martin . During the campaign, Harper reprised his earlier warnings against an alliance with Quebec nationalists, and called for his party to become

9514-434: The Reform Party's national organization in his role as policy chief, encouraging the party to expand beyond its Western base and arguing that strictly regional parties were at risk of being taken over by radical elements. He delivered a speech at the Reform Party's 1991 national convention, in which he condemned extremist views. Harper's relationship with Manning became strained in 1992, because of conflicting strategies over

9648-461: The Reform and Progressive Conservative parties under Harper's leadership. Despite his prominent position in the party, Harper's relationship with the Reform Party leadership was frequently strained. In early 1994, he criticized a party decision to establish a personal expense account for Manning at a time when other Reform MPs had been asked to forego parliamentary perquisites. He was formally rebuked by

9782-585: The Reform executive council despite winning support from some MPs. His relationship with Manning grew increasingly fractious in the mid-1990s, and he pointedly declined to express any opinion on Manning's leadership during a 1996 interview. This friction was indicative of a fundamental divide between the two men: Harper was strongly committed to conservative principles and opposed Manning's inclinations toward populism , which Harper saw as leading to compromise on core ideological matters. These tensions culminated in late 1996 when Harper announced that he would not be

9916-484: The Rules of Origin Facilitator. It is expected to become a versatile tool which assists enterprises in understanding free trade agreements and qualifying for origin requirements under these agreements. Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He was the first, and to date, only prime minister to come from

10050-480: The Supreme Court upheld the challenge, finding by a 4-3 majority that ratification of CETA would be unconstitutional as Irish law currently stands. The Court however also found that if amendments were made to existing Irish law, it would then be constitutional to ratify CETA. Free-trade agreement FTAs, a form of trade pacts, determine the tariffs and duties that countries impose on imports and exports with

10184-600: The UK. The parliament of Cyprus voted against ratification on 31 July 2020. In Germany, a constitutional complaint made by more than 125,000 people had the Federal Constitutional Court (13 October 2016) examine whether its provisional applicability was compatible with the German Basic Law. The Federal Constitutional Court confirmed this in principle; however, the federal government must ensure A ratification vote by

10318-737: The United States, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany) but for transatlantic trade and investment, this comprehensive level of parallel justice is new. After much criticism of the hitherto often confidential arbitral proceedings, CETA now provides for a certain amount of transparency by declaring the UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration applicable to all proceedings (article X.33: Transparency of proceedings, p. 174). While there

10452-460: The WTO language). The database allows users to seek information on trade agreements notified to the WTO by country or by topic (goods, services or goods and services). This database provides users with an updated list of all agreements in force, however, those not notified to the WTO may be missing. It also displays reports, tables and graphs containing statistics on these agreements, and particularly preferential tariff analysis. The Market Access Map

10586-487: The WTO's World Trade Organization - which has been considered by some as a failure for not promoting trade talks, but a success by others for preventing trade wars - states increasingly started exploring options to conclude FTAs. The formation of free trade areas is considered an exception to the most favored nation (MFN) principle in the World Trade Organization (WTO) because the preferences that parties to

10720-550: The age of sexual consent. He described his potential support base as "similar to what George Bush tapped". The tone of the leadership contest turned hostile in February 2002. Harper described Day's governance of the party as "amateurish", while his campaign team argued that Day was attempting to win re-election by building a narrow support base among different groups in the religious right. The Day campaign accused Harper of "attacking ethnic and religious minorities". In early March,

10854-535: The agreement's reception in Canada, the agreement has prompted protests in a number of European countries. CETA is Canada's biggest bilateral initiative since NAFTA . It was started as a result of a joint study "Assessing the Costs and Benefits of a Closer EU-Canada Economic Partnership", which was released in October 2008. Officials announced the launch of negotiations on 6 May 2009 at the Canada-EU Summit in Prague . This, after

10988-528: The agreement, as the European Commission considered the treaty to be solely in the competence of the EU. However, in July 2016 it was decided that CETA be qualified as a "mixed agreement" and thus be ratified through national procedures as well. Shortly before the scheduled signature of CETA on 27 October 2016, Belgium announced it was unable to sign the treaty, as assent was required by all regional governments. The federal government and Flanders , which were governed by

11122-519: The book. Harper is credited with creating Reform's campaign slogan, "The West wants in!" Harper ran for the House of Commons in the 1988 federal election in Calgary West and losing by a wide margin to Hawkes, his former employer. After Reform candidate Deborah Grey was elected as the party's first MP in a 1989 by-election , Harper became Grey's executive assistant, serving as her chief adviser and speechwriter until 1993. He remained prominent in

11256-574: The centre-right Michel and Bourgeois governments respectively, were in favour, whereas the German Community , French Community , Wallonia and Brussels , which were led by centre-left parties that were in opposition at the federal level, rejected the treaty. On 27 April 2016, the Walloon Parliament had already adopted a resolution in opposition to CETA. On 13 October 2016, David Lametti , then Canada's Justice Minister, defended CETA before

11390-459: The centre. Any opposition to abortion or bilingualism was dropped from the Conservative platform. Harper received an 84% endorsement from delegates in the leadership review . Despite the party abandoning debate over the two controversial issues, they began a concerted drive against same-sex marriage. Harper was criticized by a group of law professors for arguing that the government could override

11524-548: The company's computer systems. He took up post-secondary studies again at the University of Calgary , where he completed a bachelor's degree in economics in 1985. He later returned there to earn a master's degree in economics, completed in 1991. Throughout his career, Harper has kept strong links to the University of Calgary. Trained as an economist, Harper was the first prime minister with an economics degree since Pierre Trudeau and

11658-457: The concerns of the Federal Constitutional Court. The planned changes would not require renewed ratification of the agreement by all states. In December 2022, the Bundestag and Bundesrat ratified the agreement. In January 2023, the ratification law entered into force. In September 2017, Belgium requested the opinion of the European Court of Justice on whether the dispute resolution system of CETA

11792-414: The essential characteristics of public goods. Unlike a customs union , parties to an FTA do not maintain common external tariffs, which means they apply different customs duties, as well as other policies with respect to non-members. This feature creates the possibility of non-parties may free-riding preferences under an FTA by penetrating the market with the lowest external tariffs. Such risk necessitates

11926-561: The federal government, and the following day Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders gave his signature on behalf of Belgium. The next day, on Sunday 30 October 2016, the treaty was signed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , President of the European Council Donald Tusk , President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (as Slovakia held

12060-639: The federalist option in Quebec. He argued that "the French language is not imperilled in Quebec", and opposed "special status" for the province in the Canadian constitution accordingly. He also endorsed greater provincial autonomy on Medicare , and said that he would not co-operate with the Progressive Conservatives as long as they were led by Joe Clark. On social issues, Harper argued for "parental rights" to use corporal punishment against their children and supported raising

12194-528: The final text of CETA for signature, with Belgium being the final country to give its approval. Justin Trudeau , Prime Minister of Canada, travelled to Brussels on 30 October 2016 to sign on behalf of Canada. The European Parliament approved the deal on 15 February 2017. The agreement, being a mixed agreement, is subject to ratification by the EU and all EU member States in order to be fully applied. Until then, substantial parts are provisionally applied from 21 September 2017, excluding investment protection. After

12328-515: The first prime minister without a law degree since Joe Clark . Harper became involved in politics as a member of his high school's Young Liberals club . He later changed his political allegiance because he disagreed with the National Energy Program (NEP) of Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government. He became executive assistant to Progressive Conservative (PC) Member of Parliament (MP) Jim Hawkes in 1985 but later became disillusioned with

12462-477: The former will be entitled to preferential tariffs scheduled by the FTA, the latter must pay MFN import duties. It is noted that in qualifying for origin criteria, there is a differential treatment between inputs originating within and outside an FTA. Normally inputs originating in one FTA party will be considered as originating in the other party if they are incorporated in the manufacturing process in that other party. Sometimes, production costs arising in one party

12596-693: The goal of reducing or eliminating trade barriers , thus encouraging international trade . Such agreements usually "center on a chapter providing for preferential tariff treatment", but they also often "include clauses on trade facilitation and rule-making in areas such as investment, intellectual property , government procurement , technical standards and sanitary and phytosanitary issues". Important distinctions exist between customs unions and free-trade areas. Both types of trading bloc have internal arrangements which parties conclude in order to liberalize and facilitate trade among themselves. The crucial difference between customs unions and free-trade areas

12730-501: The government policies had a bad impact on their business. A poll conducted by Angus Reid Institute in February 2017 concluded that 55 percent of Canadians support CETA, while only 10 percent oppose it. The support, however, has waned when compared to the poll conducted in 2014. In contrast, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has a 44 percent support rate among Canadians in February 2017. In contrast to

12864-414: The interests of the pharmaceutical and software industries CETA encourages to prosecute "Camcording" (the so-called "film piracy", Art. 5.6, p. 343). Especially the negotiations on food exports lasted very long. The interests connected with European cheese exports and Canadian beef exports led to a protection of these kinds of intellectual properties and long lists of "Geographical Indications Identifying

12998-526: The introduction of rules to determine originating goods eligible for preferences under an FTA, a need that does not arise upon the formation of a customs union. Basically, there is a requirement for a minimum extent of processing that results in "substantial transformation" to the goods so that they can be considered originating. By defining which goods are originating in the PTA, preferential rules of origin distinguish between originating and non-originating goods: only

13132-484: The leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. Harper was elected the first leader of the Conservative Party, with a first ballot majority against Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement on March 20, 2004. Harper's victory included strong showings outside of Western Canada. Harper led the Conservatives into the 2004 federal election. Initially, new prime minister Paul Martin held a large lead in polls, but this eroded because of infighting, Adscam (a scandal that came as

13266-541: The modern-day Conservative Party of Canada , serving as the party's first leader from 2004 to 2015. Harper studied economics, earning a bachelor's degree in 1985 and a master's degree in 1991 at the University of Calgary . He was one of the founders of the Reform Party of Canada and was first elected in 1993 in Calgary West . He did not seek re-election in the 1997 federal election , instead joining and later leading

13400-577: The multilateral trading system. However, WTO members must notify to the Secretariat when they conclude new free trade agreements and in principle the texts of free trade agreements are subject to review under the Committee on Regional Trade Agreements. Although a dispute arising within free-trade areas are not subject to litigation at the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, "there is no guarantee that WTO panels will abide by them and decline to exercise jurisdiction in

13534-481: The new party's leadership. He expressed reservations about Day's abilities, however, and accused Day of "[making] adherence to his social views a litmus test to determine whether you're in the party or not". Harper endorsed Tom Long for the leadership, arguing that Long was best suited to take support from the Progressive Conservative Party. When Day placed first on the first ballot, Harper said that

13668-423: The opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority." On the same day the letter was written, the three party leaders held a joint press conference at which they expressed their intent to co-operate on changing parliamentary rules, and to request that the governor general consult with them before deciding to call an election. At the news conference, Harper said, "It

13802-477: The party and the government of Brian Mulroney , citing the administration's economic policy. He left the PC Party the next year. Harper was then recommended by the University of Calgary's economist Bob Mansell to Preston Manning , the founder and leader of the right-wing populist Reform Party of Canada . At that time, Harper "didn't see himself as a politician", Mansell told CBC News in 2002, adding, "Politics

13936-461: The portal on the European Union's free trade negotiations and agreements. At the international level, there are two important free-access databases developed by international organizations for policy-makers and businesses: As WTO members are obliged to notify to the Secretariat their free trade agreements, this database is constructed based on the most official source of information on free trade agreements (referred to as regional trade agreements in

14070-570: The position that "Quebec separatists are the problem and they need to be fixed". In late 1999, Harper called for the federal government to establish clear rules for any future Quebec referendum on sovereignty. Some have identified Harper's views as an influence on the Chrétien government's Clarity Act . As president of the National Citizens Coalition (NCC) from 1998 to 2002, Harper launched an ultimately unsuccessful legal battle against federal election laws restricting third-party advertising. He led

14204-416: The principles of economic conservatism . The Liberal Party lost seats but managed to retain a narrow majority government in the 1997 federal election, while Reform made only modest gains. Soon after leaving Parliament, Harper and Tom Flanagan co-authored an opinion piece entitled "Our Benign Dictatorship ", which argued that the Liberal Party only retained power through a dysfunctional political system and

14338-528: The provincial court rulings on same-sex marriage without using the " notwithstanding clause ", a provision of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . He also argued, in general, for lower taxes, an elected Senate , a tougher stance on crime, and closer relations with the United States. Following the April 2005 release of Jean Brault 's damaging testimony at the Gomery Commission , implicating

14472-496: The provincial government to "build firewalls around Alberta" to stop the federal government from redistributing its wealth to less affluent regions. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein agreed with some of the letter's recommendations, but distanced himself from the "firewall" comments. Harper also wrote an editorial in late 2000 arguing that Alberta and the rest of Canada were "embark[ing] on divergent and potentially hostile paths to defining their country". He said that Alberta had chosen

14606-560: The recent failure of a similar initiative in Ontario, he was quoted as saying, "What I hope they learn is not to get into it. There are more important social and economic issues, not to mention the unity question." Harper also spoke against the possibility of the Canadian Human Rights Commission or the Supreme Court changing federal policy in these and other matters. At the Reform Party's 1994 policy convention, Harper

14740-484: The remark as patronizing and insensitive. The Legislature of Nova Scotia unanimously approved a motion condemning Harper's comments, which were also criticized by New Brunswick premier , Bernard Lord , federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark and others. Harper refused to apologize, and said that much of Canada was trapped by the same "can't-do" attitude. In March 2003, their speeches in favour gaining no traction in Parliament, Harper and Stockwell Day co-wrote

14874-497: The report suggests these numbers could be higher when factoring in investment increases. At the sectoral level, the study predicts the greatest gains in output and trade to be stimulated by services liberalization and by the removal of tariffs applied on sensitive agricultural products; it also suggests CETA could have a positive social impact if it includes provisions on the ILO's Core Labour Standards and Decent Work Agenda. The study details

15008-411: The riding's Alliance candidate and declared that he would not stand aside for Harper; he later reconsidered. The Liberals did not field a candidate, following a parliamentary tradition of allowing opposition leaders to enter the House of Commons unopposed. The Progressive Conservative candidate, Jim Prentice , also chose to withdraw. Harper was elected without difficulty over |New Democrat Bill Phipps ,

15142-513: The risk of trade deflection , parties will adopt a system of preferential rules of origin . The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) originally defined free-trade agreements to include only trade in goods . An agreement with a similar purpose, i.e., to enhance liberalization of trade in services , is named under Article V of the General Agreement on Trade in Service (GATS) as an "economic integration agreement". However, in practice,

15276-593: The secrecy surrounding the negotiations, the similarities to ACTA, and demanded more disclosures about the negotiations from the Polish government. In the Consolidated CETA Text a long section on "Intellectual Property Rights", IPR, (pp. 339–375) deals comprehensively with copyrights, trademarks, patents, designs, trade secrets and licensing. Here reference is made to the TRIPS agreement (p. 339 f). In addition to

15410-444: The signatory parties to a free-trade area, which are applicable at the time such free-trade area is formed, to the trade with non-parties to such free-trade area shall not be higher or more restrictive than the corresponding duties and other regulations existing in the same signatory parties prior to the formation of the free-trade area. In other words, the establishment of a free-trade area to grant preferential treatment among its member

15544-533: The speech was intended as humour, and not as serious analysis. Harper considered campaigning for the Progressive Conservative Party leadership in 1998, after Jean Charest left federal politics. Among those encouraging his candidacy were senior aides to Ontario Premier Mike Harris , including Tony Clement and Tom Long . He eventually decided against running, arguing that it would "burn bridges to those Reformers with whom I worked for many years" and prevent an alliance of right-wing parties from taking shape. Harper

15678-462: The term is now widely used in politic science, diplomacy and economics to refer to agreements covering not only goods but also services and even investment . Environmental provisions have also become increasingly common in international investment agreements, like FTAs. The OED records the use of the phrase "free trade agreement" with reference to the Australian colonies as early as 1877. After

15812-505: The term, and very proud of it", "if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians", and "the NDP [New Democratic Party] is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men." These statements were made public and criticized during the 2006 election . Harper argued that

15946-502: The two candidates had an especially fractious debate on CBC Newsworld . The leadership vote was held on March 20, 2002. Harper was elected on the first ballot with 55% support, against 37% for Day. Two other candidates split the remainder. After winning the party leadership, Harper announced his intention to run for parliament in a by-election in Calgary Southwest, recently vacated by Preston Manning. Ezra Levant had been chosen as

16080-509: The two parties to form the Conservative Party of Canada . After 95 percent of Alliance members voted in favour of merging with the PCs and 90 percent of 2,486 PC delegates voted in favour of merging with the Alliance, the Conservative Party of Canada was founded on December 7, 2003. On January 12, 2004, Harper announced his resignation as the leader of the Official Opposition in order to run for

16214-495: Was a member of Richview Collegiate's team on Reach for the Top , a televised academic quiz show for high school students. Harper studied at the University of Toronto's Trinity College before moving to Alberta. In an attempt to establish independence from his parents, Harper dropped out of the University of Toronto and then moved to Edmonton , Alberta, where he found work in the mail room at Imperial Oil. Later, he advanced to work on

16348-489: Was also criticized for supporting his caucus colleague MP Gurmant Grewal . Grewal had produced tapes of conversations with Tim Murphy , Paul Martin's chief of staff, in which Grewal claimed he had been offered a cabinet position in exchange for his defection. The Liberals' support dropped sharply after the first report from the Gomery Commission was issued, but rebounded soon after. Later that month, Harper introduced

16482-452: Was also to build on a Canada-EU regulatory co-operation framework for promoting bilateral co-operation on approaches to regulatory governance, advancing good regulatory practices and facilitating trade and investment. In addition to lowering barriers, the TIEA was meant to heighten Canadian and European interest in each other's markets. The TIEA continued until 2006 when Canada and the EU decided to pause negotiations. This led to negotiations for

16616-522: Was constitutionally appropriate and permissible for the State to ratify the agreement without a referendum. In January 2022, the Supreme Court allowed direct appeal of this judgment to itself, bypassing the Court of Appeal in a "leapfrog" appeal due to "significant issues" regarding state sovereignty and the administration of justice raised in the case. This appeal began being heard in March 2022. In November 2022,

16750-826: Was developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) with the objectives to facilitate businesses, governments and researchers in market access issues. The database, visible via the online tool Market Access Map, includes information on tariff and non-tariff barriers in all active trade agreements, not limited to those officially notified to the WTO. It also documents data on non-preferential trade agreements (for instance, Generalized System of Preferences schemes). Up until 2019, Market Access Map has provided downloadable links to texts agreements and their rules of origin. The new version of Market Access Map forthcoming this year will provide direct web links to relevant agreement pages and connect itself to other ITC's tools, particularly

16884-592: Was elected as the party's first leader in March 2004 . In the 2004 federal election , the new party lost its first election to the Liberal Party led by Paul Martin . The 2006 federal election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Harper becoming prime minister of Canada. During his first term, Harper confronted the In and Out scandal , reduced the goods and services tax to five percent, and passed

17018-544: Was not his first love." Manning invited him to participate in the party, and Harper gave a speech at Reform's 1987 founding convention in Winnipeg . He became the Reform Party's chief policy officer, and he played a major role in drafting the 1988 election platform, otherwise known as the Blue Book, which helped form the principles and policies of the party. Harper was influenced by his political mentor, Tom Flanagan , when writing

17152-460: Was not to save money at the expense of public education. Day's leadership of the Canadian Alliance became increasingly troubled throughout the summer of 2001, as several party MPs called for his resignation. In June, the National Post newspaper reported that former Reform MP Ian McClelland was organizing a possible leadership challenge on Harper's behalf. Harper announced his resignation from

17286-460: Was officially presented on 25 September 2014 by Harper and Barroso during an EU – Canada Summit at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto . The Canada Europe Roundtable for Business has served as the parallel business process from the launch to the conclusion of the CETA negotiations. After it had been leaked by German public television on 14 August, the 1634 pages long Consolidated CETA text

17420-403: Was part of a small minority of delegates who voted against restricting the definition of marriage to "the union of one man and one woman". He opposed both same-sex marriage and mandated benefits for same-sex couples, but argued that political parties should refrain from taking official positions on these and other "issues of conscience". Harper was the only Reform MP to support the creation of

17554-465: Was published on the EU's official website on 26 September 2014. Completion, translation of the final text into 24 EU languages, and ratification is expected to take years since the passage of the deal requires approval of the European Parliament and the European Council as well as Canada and the individual 27 EU member states as well. The EU-Canada Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA),

17688-520: Was sceptical about the Reform Party's United Alternative initiative in 1999, arguing that it would serve to consolidate Manning's hold on the party leadership. He also expressed concern that the UA would dilute Reform's ideological focus. When the United Alternative created the Canadian Alliance in 2000 as a successor party to Reform, Harper predicted that Stockwell Day would defeat Preston Manning for

17822-503: Was that it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election". Harper also stated that he had told the Conservative Party representatives that they were unlikely to succeed. "I told them they were wasting their time. I said Chuck had made up his mind." In February 2008, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigated the allegations that Section 119's provisions on bribery and corruption in

17956-552: Was unnecessary between countries with well-developed legal systems. The CETA " Investor-State Dispute Settlement " (ISDS) provisions could create a precedent for similar arrangements within TTIP . Furthermore, critics allege that CETA would allow US companies to sue EU states through Canadian subsidiaries. In 2016, the EU Commission announced that it had agreed with the Canadian government to replace ad hoc arbitral tribunals in CETA with

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