The Canada-European Union   Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is a trade agreement the federal and provincial governments have been negotiating with the EU since 2009 and which will likely be signed by the end of this summer. While CETA negotiations have happened largely behind closed doors, we have a fairly thorough understanding of what the agreement is likely to look like from leaked drafts. As with most free trade agreements, CETA covers a broad scope of issues from water services to resource exportation. This agreement also has significant implications for food and agriculture.

CETA is unique in that it will be the first international free trade agreement signed by Canada that will apply to the MASH (municipalities, agencies, schools and hospitals) sector.  Through this agreement municipal governments and their agencies will be subject to international free trade agreement rules for the first time.  This is likely most significant in the area of public procurement.  Lawyer Steven Shrybman argues that “the inclusion of sub-national procurement in CETA is arguably the EU’s foremost demand.”  Once CETA is signed, public procurement contracts of over $340,000 for goods and services and of over $8.5 million for construction will be open to European companies.  Canadian governments at all levels will be bound to award these contracts to the lowest bidder.  Opponents argue that this will significantly delegitimize current public buy local policies and programs and hinder the development of future ones.  While municipalities are already subject to the lower procurement thresholds from the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), an interprovincial trade agreement whose purpose is to facilitate trade between Canadian provinces, the AIT does not threaten buy Canadian programs and does not apply to the procurement of food that will be resold, which includes much of the food purchased by food service companies

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