The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Stephen
Harper's memo, "Napping
on NAFTA," has put a crack in Canada's united front in the North American free-trade agreement renegotiations. The Globe's Campbell Clark writes that Mr. Harper's memo will encourage Conservatives
to start slipping off the
Liberals' NAFTA message.
The Conservatives have been playing ball with
the Trudeau Liberals' call for a
beyond-partisan approach. The
Liberals had reached out to ask former
prime minister Brian Mulroney
to help, and asked former interim
Conservative leader Rona Ambrose
to serve on a NAFTA advisory council.
There are signs, however, that Conservatives
itch to be free of those chummy
constraints.
The biggest part of Mr. Harper's
memo was warning that talks
are going badly, and Mr. Trump
might pull the plug. Canada, he said,
must realize that it does not matter if
it gets a worse deal than what it has
now; what matters, "is whether it is
worth having a trade agreement
with the Americans or not."
That is partly a reflection of the
sour feeling that the talks could fail.
That prospect also encourages
the opposition to break more with
the government's handling of the
negotiations.
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