Ontario Government Applauds Ottawa for Ratifying Critical Trade Deal

Sunday, 15 March 2020 03:15.PM

On March 13 Premier Doug Ford and Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, issued the following statement on the House of Commons and Senate of Canada ratifying the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement:

"Amidst global economic uncertainty, we applaud all federal parties in Ottawa for working together to ratify the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in the House of Commons and the Senate. By approving this deal, businesses will be provided with certainty and workers in Ontario and Canada will be protected, particularly those in our auto and steel sectors.

Our government is focused on protecting jobs in the short term and our economy in the long term. Nearly one in five Ontario jobs depend on trade, and approximately $397 billion in trade travels across the U.S. and Canadian border in Ontario every year. We know that ensuring strong trade ties is vital to our economic stability. Together, we can now move forward with our North American partners to build a stronger trading relationship that will help businesses grow and protect jobs across the continent.

Our government's top priority throughout these negotiations was to protect jobs for the hard-working people of Ontario. We want to thank the leaders and negotiators from all three countries who worked long hours and reached across party lines to secure this critical deal.

Ontario's strong relationship with our neighbours to the south is critically important. If Ontario were a country, we would be the third largest trading partner of the United States. We are the number one customer of 19 U.S. states and second for nine others.

Ontario continues to play an important role in promoting Canada's trade interests and strengthening our historic ties with our U.S. partners for the benefit of the people of our province and our country.

We are further committed to working with the federal government to ensure the supply managed agricultural sectors which are impacted by provisions made in the agreement will receive full and fair compensation, and that our farmers remain top of mind as CUSMA is ratified and implemented by all parties."

March 13, 2020 3:20 P.M.Office of the Premier