There are currently three agreements that apply to government procurement: the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, the NAFTA rules and the Internal Trade Agreement.
In all of these agreements, the non-discrimination obligations relating to products used by the Canadian government deal only with what are called similar products. As Mr. Labbé pointed out, it is now internationally recognized that wood is a very different product from concrete or steel. So, we are not talking about similar products.
It should also be noted that the bill refers to “wood”, as opposed to “Canadian wood”. Therefore, the wood used could come from the United States or another country. In no way does this bill pose a threat to our export markets.