We had a witness, Michael Buda, who was the director of policy and research for the Canadian Federation of Municipalities, who said:
...this agreement helps to roll back the clock. It helps to stop the precedent that Buy American was going to set to encourage similar sorts of procurement practices to spread amongst United States municipalities, just like it could actually spread to Canadian municipalities.
Minister, a quick question. I'm looking at the NAFTA agreement signed 16 years, 2 months, and 29 days ago. At that time there was a provision in there in paragraph 1024(4)(a) “Further Negotiations” to:
...immediately begin consultations with their state and provincial governments with a view to obtaining commitments, on a voluntary and reciprocal basis, to include within this chapter a procurement by state and provincial government entities and enterprises; and...
It goes on a little bit longer.
Minister, 16 years and 3 months ago it didn't get done. You got it done.
I'm trying to get a sense of how hard it was to put in a deal that for 16 years no one could do.