Legislation authorizing a Canada-Jordan free trade agreement has received MP approval in principle and now goes for detailed study.
The approval comes three years after the deal was negotiated and follows many hours of debate.
In the end, opposition MPs who spent days complaining about the government’s free trade performance and about Jordan’s human rights record voted unanimously for Bill C-23 March 5 so that it can be sent to the House of Commons international trade committee for hearings.
A more controversial bill to implement a free trade deal with Panama did not fare as well. It remains stuck in the Commons after another hour of debate March 2 amid opposition complaints about Panama’s domestic human rights record and its reputation as a tax haven where rich Canadians and businesses avoid taxes and launder money.
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The unanimous vote on the Jordan deal settled one point of contention.
Conservative MPs like to complain that New Democrat MPs have never voted for free trade because they oppose it ideologically.
However, despite their criticisms and the vow to carry on the fight for improvements at committee, New Democrats in the House did vote for the Jordan deal.
Although trade between Canada and Jordan is small, valued at just $86 million in two-way trade in 2010, Canadian supporters of the deal argue that as the first free trade deal with a Middle Eastern country, it could become a gateway to get more Canadian goods into the region.
Late last year, foreign affairs and international trade department director general Kirsten Hillman, who was in charge of the trade negotiations, told MPs that the deal will open important markets for Canadian agriculture and farm products.
She said the deal will eliminate tariffs on 99 percent of products recently shipped by Canada. Tariffs now range from 11 to 30 percent.
