A new parliamentary committee created to investigate trade issues should look at options for Canada that do not depend on World Trade Organization agreements, says a prairie member of the committee and a veteran trade lobbyist.
Faltering WTO talks should not be Canada’s only option, said Ted Menzies, an Alberta Conservative MP, farmer and founding member of the free trade lobby group Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance.
He is a WTO promoter who sees the chances of a deal diminishing as one deadline after another is missed.
Menzies said the new House of Commons trade committee should prepare Canada for life beyond the WTO.
“We should begin hearings that examine whether a WTO multilateral deal is the only approach Canada takes or should we be changing our focus to negotiating more bilaterals (trade deals with individual countries),” he said.
Menzies, a former grain producer from south of Calgary and an ardent free trader, is parliamentary secretary to the minister responsible for international co-operation.
