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Thursday April 11, 2013 |
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Ted Menzies, the Minister of State for Finance, yesterday delivered a talk
on the Canada - EU Trade Agreement that marked an important shift in
the government's rhetoric on the agreement. Aside from a bizarre
reference to the value of the agreement being $17 trillion dollars
(total Canadian GDP is $1.8 trillion), the talk is most notable from the
move away from promising swift completion of the agreement. After years
of setting missed deadlines, Menzies now says there is no deadline for
completion, suggesting that the government is beginning to hedge on
whether there even will be a deal. I wrote about the prospect of the agreement dying altogether last month.ceta, deadline, menzies Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareThursday April 11, 2013 |
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Tuesday March 19, 2013 |
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The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology released its report on the Intellectual Property Regime in Canada
yesterday. The report is the result of lengthy hearings that focused on
a wide range of IP issues including patent reform, trademarks,
counterfeiting, and pharmaceutical protection. While most the
recommendations are fairly innocuous - the committee identifies many
issues for further study - there are essentially three main legislative
reform recommendations. One involves limiting the scope of official
marks, which appears to be the result of comments from Dalhousie law
professor Rob Currie (echoed by CIPO's Sylvain Laporte) expressing
concern with governmental abuse of official marks in a way that may
stifle innovation.
The other two are
particularly interesting as they set the stage for the Canada - EU Trade
Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. First, the report recommends anti-counterfeiting measures similar to those
required by CETA and found in Bill C-56. Should criticism arise over
Bill C-56 or CETA, the government will likely point to this report in
support.
The second involves a
classic case of policy laundering as the government has manufactured
support for CETA and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) provisions that
were not even raised at committee. The report recommends:
ceta, counterfeiting, indu, ip, patent, tpp, trademark Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareTuesday March 19, 2013 |
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Friday March 15, 2013 |
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Last November, Maclean's columnist Paul Wells wrote a piece
on the Canada - EU Trade Agreement in which he expressed doubt about
the ability to conclude the deal ("Everybody connected to the
negotiations assures me there will be a deal. Every public sign I see
makes me think there won’t."). I was skeptical about the prospect of
years of negotiations falling apart and expected the political level
meetings in November to wrap things up. They didn't. Last month,
International Trade Minister Ed Fast and his European counterpart Karel
de Gucht tried again. Still no deal.
While Fast wants everyone to believe that momentum is building toward an agreement, it clearly is not. Over the last year, Canada's lead lawyer on the negotiations resigned, Canada's lead agricultural negotiator was re-assigned, and the EU's lead negotiator has added the EU - Vietnam agreement to his responsibilities with rumours that he will head the EU - Japan trade talks. Fast says he won't negotiate the agreement in the media and then proceeds to do exactly that by staking out positions on agriculture and investment. The same business groups that have been lobbying for the deal issue a public letter on the agreement that does little other than promise "future support."
All of this adds up to missed deadline after missed deadline. In 2010, officials said the deal would be completed in 2011. In early 2011, they said it would be completed by the end of the year. By late 2011, the deadline had moved to 2012. Yet it is now 2013 and Fast admitted this week that there may not be an agreement this year.
ceta, tafta, tpp Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareFriday March 15, 2013 |
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Friday February 22, 2013 |
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Canadian and European officials traded public barbs
yesterday over the inability to finalize the Canada - EU Trade
Agreement. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said unless Canada
makes some additional steps, there will be no deal. Canadian officials
responded that Europe has yet to meet Canada's core concerns. The
comments come after a ministerial meeting this month was unable to yield an
agreement. De Gucht and Canadian International Trade Minister Ed Fast
met in Brussels in November 2012, but those talks failed to solve the outstanding issues. The two ministers met again in Ottawa two weeks ago with a similar result.
While officials continue to put a brave face on the
talks, the latest comments suggest mounting frustration at the
unwillingness of either side to cave on key issues in order to strike a
deal. The major remaining issues
have been the same for months: agriculture, patent protection for
pharmaceutical companies, investor access and protection, public
procurement, automotive issues, and cultural protections. Indeed, these
issues were identified years ago as the major areas of disagreement
(copyright was initially on this list but the defeat of ACTA removed it
as an issue).
ceta, patents Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareFriday February 22, 2013 |
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