| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Why have the negotiations of a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union taken so long? We argue that the delay is in good part the result of a weakly designed process for intergovernmental decision making: the role for provincial and territorial governments in international trade negotiations is still too limited and does not extend to final decisions about the text of any agreement. The limited role for provinces and the fact that there is no process that requires them to formally commit to an agreement leave open the real possibility that one or more provinces could choose not to fully implement any deal that is concluded. As a result, provinces possess negotiating leverage vis-à-vis Ottawa, thereby making it difficult for the federal government to agree to the trade-offs-which are of a geographical nature in CETA's case-that are necessary for reaching a positive agreement.
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