Canadian agriculture groups hope new Indo-Pacific strategy leads to trade deals
Canadian agriculture groups hope new Indo-Pacific strategy leads to trade deals
OTTAWA -
Agriculture commodity groups are applauding the Liberal government's long-awaited Indo-Pacific strategy and hoping it will lead to more, and better, free trade deals.
The strategy, announced Sunday in Vancouver, includes commitments to increase military spending and build closer ties with countries such as India.
Included in the $2.3-billion plan is a promise to earmark $244.1 million for improving trade between Canada and countries in the region.
While no specific targets or benchmarks are included in the strategy, and questions remain over how effectively the dollars will be spent, the heightened focus on the region is being celebrated by agriculture groups in Canada.
Todd Lewis, a Saskatchewan-based farmer and a vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, says it is "good news for Canadian agriculture."
"It is another signal that the government of Canada is serious about trying to establish both trade deals as well as trade relationships," he said. "It is something that we hope will grow and continue to be successful."
Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy seeks new trading relationships, as well as the expansion of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, by adding new members.
The pact, which already includes heavyweights such as Australia, Japan and Mexico, entered into force four years ago. The United Kingdom, the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan and China have applied for membership.
Leif Carlson, director of market intelligence and trade policy for Cereals Canada, said the Indo-Pacific strategy should be viewed through a long-term lens as a way to deepen those trade relationships.
"I hope that the Indo-Pacific strategy is going to be complementary to the CPTPP," he said.
Some agricultural producers say the deal has not lived up to expectations and its implementation has been slow.
"Some of these trade deals aren't maybe what they thought they would be, or what we hoped they would be, and a little bit slow getting off the ground," said Lewis.
Jim Everson, president of the Canola Council of Canada, said he hopes the strategy "builds on the CPTPP" and adds momentum to a prospective deal with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN.
Canada has been trying to strike a trade deal with ASEAN, a bloc of 10 countries in Southeast Asia, since 2017.
After a public consultation on a potential deal in 2018, the two parties agreed to proceed with negotiations in 2021, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing funding to help ASEAN nations take part in trade-deal negotiations at a summit held by the bloc earlier this month.
Canada has also moved toward negotiating more bilateral deals in the region, including with India and ASEAN member Indonesia.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2022.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he’s invited premiers to Ottawa for a 'working meeting' to discuss a health-care funding deal, on Feb. 7.
As the minority Liberals plot out their policy moves ahead of the 2023 parliamentary sitting, weighing heavily are commitments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh that have to be acted on this year in order to uphold the two-party confidence-and-supply deal. Here is what needs to get done to keep the deal alive.
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
After six weeks, more than 70 witnesses, and the submission of more than 7,000 documents into evidence, the public hearing portion of the Public Order Emergency Commission wrapped up on Friday.
Based on Justin Trudeau's first-day fail in the House of Commons, 'meeting the moment' is destined to become the most laughable slogan since the elder Pierre Trudeau’s disastrous campaign rallying cry in 1972, which insisted 'the land is strong' just as the economy tanked.
Like Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau’s early handling of the pandemic was a reassuring communications exercise where harsh isolation measures went down easier with a hefty helping of government support, Don Martin writes in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca. 'But like the New Zealand Prime Minister, the Canadian PM's best days are arguably behind him. '
The Standing Committee on Transport gathered Thursday with MPs demanding an explanation for how that highly unusual Canadian winter combination of heavy snow and cold temperatures which delayed or cancelled thousands of post-pandemic reunions. What they got was a gold-medal finger-pointing performance, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
From a more coherent public health and carbon tax position, to cutting the 'Freedom Convoy' connection and smiling more, Pierre Poilievre has seven New Year's resolutions to woo the voters in 2023, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
A powerful, 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,300 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled hundreds of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble or pancaked floors.
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria on Monday is likely to be one of the deadliest this decade, seismologists said, with a more than 100 km rupture between the Anatolian and Arabian plates.
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about what some provinces are expecting.
Retirements, high training costs and poor pay are fuelling a pilot shortage in Canada, industry analysts say, at a time when travel has surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The outlook for the loonie in 2023 largely depends on commodity prices, how the U.S. dollar fares, and whether central banks are successful in avoiding a major recession, experts said.
China on Monday accused the United States of indiscriminate use of force in shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, saying it 'seriously impacted and damaged both sides' efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations.'
As more potential graves are found on sites of former residential schools, one advocate says Canada still has work to do to show true reconciliation with First Nations and Indigenous communities.
The Bank of Canada is set to publish its first summary of deliberations Wednesday, giving Canadians a peek into the governing council's reasoning behind its decision to raise interest rates last month.
Canada stood ready to provide help in the aftermath of a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkiye and Syria, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday, with over 2,300 people reported dead.
The Bank of Canada is set to publish its first summary of deliberations Wednesday, giving Canadians a peek into the governing council's reasoning behind its decision to raise interest rates last month.
As more potential graves are found on sites of former residential schools, one advocate says Canada still has work to do to show true reconciliation with First Nations and Indigenous communities.
Retirements, high training costs and poor pay are fuelling a pilot shortage in Canada, industry analysts say, at a time when travel has surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A powerful, 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,300 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled hundreds of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble or pancaked floors.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday told fossil fuel producers they 'should not be in business' unless they are credibly aiming for net-zero emissions and warned that the world is walking into a 'wider war' over Ukraine.
Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops tied down with attacks in the eastern Donbas region as Moscow assembles additional combat power there for an expected offensive in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said Monday.
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria on Monday is likely to be one of the deadliest this decade, seismologists said, with a more than 100 km rupture between the Anatolian and Arabian plates.
Australian and Chinese trade ministers held their first bilateral meeting in three years Monday as Australia urges China to lift official and unofficial barriers that are costing exporters 20 billion Australian dollars (US$14 billion) a year.
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about what some provinces are expecting.
Canada has sent one of its military planes to Haiti to help the country cope with escalating violence. A joint statement today from National Defence Minister Anita Anand and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada has deployed a CP-140 Aurora aircraft to help 'disrupt the activities of gangs' in Haiti.
On Tuesday in Ottawa, Canada's 13 premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will sit around the same table in person for the first time since COVID-19 hoping to find a path toward a new long-term health-care funding deal.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is calling on the federal government to do more for cancer patients, as the system continues to struggle nearly three years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paid subscriptions to on-demand care are among the many strategies primary health-care providers in Ontario are adopting in order to meet increased demand for access to doctors in the past year, while also managing staffing shortages.
Pakistan's media regulator said Monday it blocked Wikipedia services in the country for hurting Muslim sentiment by not removing purportedly blasphemous content from the site. Critics denounced Islamabad's action, saying it was a blow to digital rights.
Using a device that might be described as a super-duper cocktail shaker, scientists have fashioned a previously unknown form of ice - one that might exist on our solar system's icy moons - in research that sheds light on water's behaviour under extreme conditions.
A former "Dances With Wolves" actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous girls and leading a cult must remain held without bail until his next court hearing, a judge ordered Thursday morning.
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on 'Murphy Brown,' died Jan. 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
Walt Disney Co. has cut an episode from the hit cartoon series 'The Simpsons' that contains a reference to "forced labour camps" in China from its streaming service in Hong Kong, according to a check of the service.
Dell Technologies Inc is cutting about 6,650 jobs, or 5 per cent of its global workforce, as it struggles with a slump in the personal computer market and braces for a potential recession.
The National Enquirer, the scandal-plagued tabloid that engaged in 'catch-and-kill' practices to bury stories about Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, has been sold.
Hundreds of demonstrators from India's main opposition party turned out Monday in India's capital New Delhi and other cities demanding an investigation into allegations of fraud and stock price manipulation by India's second-biggest business group, headed by coal mining tycoon Gautam Adani.
A US$747 million Powerball jackpot will be up for grabs Monday night for players willing to risk $2 against the long, long odds of winning the big prize.
She started throwing punches to get exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now 17-year-old Talia Birch is gearing up to compete in the Canada Games as it opens up to female boxers for the first time
Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze one of the country's highest honours Monday, nearly a year after a doping case involving one of her skaters overshadowed the Winter Olympics.
Manchester City was accused by the Premier League on Monday of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period when the club was attempting to establish itself as a force in English and European soccer following its takeover by Abu Dhabi's ruling family.
A Montreal woman is passing along her father's extensive collection of over 31,000 Expos baseball cards. April Whitzman's father, Steve Whitzman, collected the cards from 1969 to 2016. A huge Expos fan, he's got every player covered.
Automakers Renault and Nissan on Monday formalized their reboot of a relationship that had grown rocky, culminating in the spectacular fall of top executive Carlos Ghosn, who had led successful turnarounds at both companies before his arrest and daring escape.
New research suggests that cutting fossil fuel emissions by adopting electric vehicles can improve air quality and potentially reduce respiratory problems in communities. But these benefits may not apply to all neighbourhoods in the same way.
Former NFL player Jim Bob Morris is heading to the Super Bowl in Phoenix from Bloomington, Illinois, in a newly refurbished set of wheels. His ride has new paint, new seating and even a new bathroom.
