White House and administration officials have confirmed that the president will sign the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement on Wednesday, leaving Canada as the lone nation that still needs to pass the agreement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his country’s government will introduce a motion to approve the USMCA when Parliament resumes today.
Canadian Cattlemen Association’s Director of Government and International Relations John Masswohl says he expects quick passage.
“That’s something that certainly at CCA we have been expressing our support and we have been meeting with members of Parliament and the Ministers and expressing our hope that a bill will be introduced, if not the first day maybe the second day in the Parliament, and that they will find all the procedural mechanisms that they can to move this thing as quickly as possible and pass it.”
He says the chances of USMCA passage are good because both parties back the agreement.
“When the governing party, which is the liberals, and the official opposition, which is the conservatives, and they’re both supportive of it, I see things being able to move pretty quickly. I think that’s the case this time around. We just have to continue to explain to them how important this is to the Canadian economy, and we will be doing that, and I know some of my colleagues in some of the other sectors will as well.”
Masswohl says once Canada ratifies the pact, then it’ll be this spring when it’s finally completed by all three nations.
“I don’t think there’s any hope that we’re going to pass it before the end of January. So the question is if we can get it passed and done by the end of February, then the agreement will come into effect on May first. We go past the end of February and into March, and we’re not done by the end of March, then it’s June first. So, I think that’s the question; Is it May first or is it June first?”
Mexico approved the agreement in June of last year.