REGINA - Saskatchewan Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison has vented his frustrations over the collapse of Early Progress Trade Agreement negotiations with India.
Following the conclusion of a Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers meeting on International Trade, Harrison expressed his disappointment over the recent news that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government had ended negotiations on the trade deal.
“It’s clear to me that the Trudeau government never treated the EPTA negotiations with India seriously,” Harrison said in a statement Friday afternoon.
“In fact, between the FPT meeting today, and a private call with Minister (Mary) Ng yesterday, I still have received no explanation why negotiations were ended by Canada. Though Minister Ng did confirm they were, in fact, ended by Canada.
“It’s equally clear that the Trudeau government has made a political decision that its best interests in a partisan context are served by a confrontational and negative relationship with the Modi government.
“The people who pay the price for this are Saskatchewan farmers, miners, and business owners. And clearly the Trudeau government could care less.
“The Government of Saskatchewan has opened nine international trade and investment offices around the world to promote Saskatchewan’s diplomatic and commercial relationships, and we will continue to look after our interests internationally even if the Trudeau government will not.”
Earlier this week, Canadian Press reported that Premier Scott Moe had released a letter Monday from Harrison to the federal government, in which Harrison accused Trudeau of picking a fight with India for domestic political gain..
"It is very difficult to come to any other conclusion that your government has once again put its own domestic political interests ahead of the national economic interest — particularly as it relates to exports and trade of western Canadian-produced commodities," Harrison wrote.
Last week, Trudeau had visited India to attend the G20 Summit and there were widespread reports of a chilly reception from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of protests by Sikh separatists in Canada.
On Friday came further reports that a planned federal trade mission by Minister Ng to Mumbai slated for October was now off.
The provincial government stated in their news release Friday afternoon that Saskatchewan had sought to engage with federal counterparts on the trade negotiation, and felt the province could have been a positive force due to its positive relationships in India.
According to the province’s release, those offers were never accepted. They also stated Saskatchewan was also never updated on the progress of the discussion, and had found out about the end of negotiations through the media.
The province further states that Harrison had made clear that assertions from the Feds that negotiations are paused to ‘take stock’ is “utter nonsense and that there is zero chance the Indians will re-engage given the approach and behavior of Prime Minister Trudeau and his government” according to their news release.
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