Canada and the European Union will release final details of their mammoth trade deal on Sept. 25 in Ottawa, ending a marathon 10 months of bargaining since Prime Minister Stephen Harper flew off to Brussels to sign the initial agreement in principle.
Multiple sources tell the media that the text of the full agreement will be made public by Harper and European Union President José Manuel Barroso as part of a formal summit between the two sides.
The Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, or CETA, has been a priority for the Harper government, but talks dragged out over a series of issues ranging from the protection of intellectual property to the process for settling disputes between private companies and governments.
Just last week, news reports out of Europe suggested the Germany would refuse to sign the deal — a report later denied by Angela Merkel's government — over the so-called investor-state dispute mechanism, which is meant to set up an independent tribunal for companies to resolve trade disputes, rather than have them go through a country’s courts.
The deal would give Canada favoured access to Europe’s 500 million people and $17-trillion economy.
But there have been growing concerns in Canada with how long it was taking to resolve the final issues.
One industry observer compared to the discussions to the game of whack-a-mole: as soon as one issue was resolved another would pop up.
Government officials declined to discuss the timing of the announcement, but noted "excellent progress is being made" to complete the legal text of the agreement that is projected to boost the Canadian economy by $12 billion a year, and create almost 80,000 jobs.
But sources tell the media that the signing ceremony will be on Parliament Hill and include other EU leaders attending the summit as well as Canadian premiers.
It will follow also follow a trade mission to England in the first week of September, led by Harper and Trade Minister Ed Fast. They’ve invited Canadian business leaders along to promote economic ties and the pending removal of trade barriers on the vast majority of goods and services moving between Canada and Europe.
Sources say that Canadian officials have been pushing hard to finalize the deal, in part because Barroso's term as president comes to an end in October. His departure, as well as the turnover of others in the executive, could have meant further delays and uncertainty if nothing was signed by that point.
As it is, CETA will still have to be approved by the European Parliament and the 28 countries in the EU.
