A growing chorus of Canada’s closest trade partners are calling out Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Buy Canadian procurement policy, saying it flouts promises Ottawa made in trade pacts to give them access to government contracts.
A U.S. representative raised the issue with the World Trade Organization’s procurement committee in March, according to the organization’s account of the closed meeting. The Americans aren’t the only ones complaining. The European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom have all spoken against the policy at the WTO.
“According to these parties, the recent developments raised concerns regarding whether Canada was acting in accordance with its commitment… to guarantee non-discriminatory access to other parties,” the WTO Secretariat said in a public meeting summary.
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