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Ramsey, NDP Call For NAFTA Priorities

AM800-NEWS-TRACEY-RAMSEY-OCT2016
AM800-NEWS-TRACEY-RAMSEY-OCT2016
The New Democrat cosigned a letter with party leader Tom Mulcair

Essex MP Tracey Ramsey wants to know what Justin Trudeau's priorities are when it comes to NAFTA negotiations with the US.

The New Democrat co-signed a letter with party leader Tom Mulcair in calling on the federal government to outline its priorities for protecting Canadian jobs in the upcoming North American Free Trade Agreement talks.

The letter says negotiations could begin as early as August.

Ramsey says the talk of re-opening NAFTA has many worried and it's up to the federal government to ease those concerns.

"They're nervous about what this means for their jobs, for their communities — of course under NAFTA we saw a great loss previously in the manufaturing sector, so our auto sector is very concerned about rules of origin and things inside of NAFTA," says Ramsey.

She doesn't think revealing Canadian priorities in the NAFTA talks will compromise the government's bargaining position.

"At this point I think Canadians would like us to be something more than reactive to Donald Trump and his tweets and what's coming out of the White House," says Ramsey. "You can certainly release some priorities and talk about some hardlines Canada has in negotiations without revealing all of our cards."

The letter — issued yesterday — outlines supply management, manufacturing jobs as well as labour and environmental standards as some of the key planks the Trudeau government needs to address.


 

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