Harper Talks Free Trade With European Union

(Globe & Mail)

Quebec takes seat at table saying provinces want to influence deal, but Nfld. opposes EU discussions due to seal-product ban

Canada embarked on free-trade negotiations with the European Union yesterday with a visit by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Prague, while Quebec showed its determination to play its own major role in the talks, naming former Parti Québécois premier Pierre-Marc Johnson as the province’s “chief negotiator.”

Quebec Premier Jean Charest has established close ties with the former PQ leader, who has been one of the Liberal government’s most respected voices on everything from trade issues involving the United States and China to heading a public inquiry into the 2006 collapse of an overpass in Laval that killed five people.

Mr. Johnson, who in the 1980s placed sovereignty on the backburner to promote Quebec’s “national affirmation” within Canada, has now been asked to advance Mr. Charest’s vision of Canadian federalism, in which provinces act as partners with Ottawa in major decisions, rather than spectators.

“The European Union was reticent to engage in such talks unless the provinces were committed to the process,” Mr. Johnson said yesterday. Read more here.