Elizabeth May Question on CETA

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, far from being a gift-wrapped package for the new government, in the words of Professor Gus Van Harten, CETA was in fact a ticking time bomb. People who know this file knew that the Europeans were not really happy with this deal. To defuse the ticking time bomb, the new government has a unique opportunity. Fashion this deal in the interests of Europeans and Canadians, remove the offensive investor-state provisions, and get to a deal on the real issue, which is trade.

Will the Prime Minister consider removing the investor-state provisions from CETA?

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau: Mr. Speaker, the fact is, when we came into government a year ago, we discovered that the CETA deal was in deep trouble. Indeed, Europeans had real concerns about the investor-state dispute mechanisms. That is why we sat down with the Europeans and created a new ISDS approach that actually makes it the gold standard, makes it an extraordinarily progressive deal that Europe has happily signed on to. We are confident that in the coming days we will see a positive outcome for this historic deal.