Warning on EU-Canada Trade Deal Misguided: Van Loan

(The Globe and Mail – Barrie McKenna)

A new study warning that free trade with Europe could cost Canada 28,000 jobs is a misguided ideological attack on open markets, Canadian Trade Minister Peter Van Mr. Van Loan Loan says.

The study by Canadian Auto Workers economist Jim Stanford for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives concluded that a proposed Canada-Europe free trade deal would wipe out thousand of jobs in industries such as food processing, apparel making and the auto industry, while widening an already yawning trade deficit.

Mr. Van Loan said the CAW and CCPA are ideologically opposed to free trade, even though previous agreements clearly benefitted the Canadian auto industry and Canadian workers.

“The fact is they are ideologically opposed to an agreement that hasn’t even been completed yet,” Mr. Van Loan told reporters in Ottawa. “I have no difficulty dismissing that and focusing on the fact that this is a free trade deal that offers enormous upside potential for Canadian jobs.” Read more here.