Canadian business groups urge all Parliamentarians to support swift efforts to ratify and implement CUSMA

Ottawa January 29, 2020 – A group of Canadian business organizations today issued the following statement:

“We call on all Parliamentarians across party lines to support swift efforts to ratify and implement Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

“After three years of uncertainty, it’s time to restore long-term predictability to North American supply chains.

“We call on Members of Parliament and Senators from all parties to make the ratification and implementation of CUSMA a top priority. Above all else, the agreement restores much needed certainty to our most important trade and investment relationship.

“This is about certainty and North America’s ability to compete with the world as an integrated market. It is time for Canada to follow suit and ratify.

The group consists of the Business Council of Canada, the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters.

The four organizations collectively represent many thousands of companies across Canada, employing millions of Canadians.

ABOUT CME

Since 1871, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters has been helping manufacturers grow at home and, compete around the world. Our focus is to ensure manufacturers are recognized as engines for growth in the economy, with Canada acknowledged as both a global leader and innovator in advanced manufacturing and a global leader in exporting. CME is a member-driven association that directly represents more than 2,500 leading companies who account for an estimated 82 per cent of manufacturing output and 90 per cent of Canada’s exports.

ABOUT THE CANADIAN BUSINESS COUNCIL

Founded in 1976, the Business Council of Canada is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization representing business leaders in every region and sector of the country. The Council’s member companies employ 1.7 million Canadians, contribute the largest share of federal corporate taxes, and are responsible for most of Canada’s exports, corporate philanthropy, and private-sector investments in research and development. Through supply chain partnerships, service contracts and mentoring programs, Business Council members support many hundreds of thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs in communities of all sizes, in every part of Canada.

ABOUT THE CANADIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce helps build the businesses that support our families, our communities and our country. We do this by influencing government policy, by providing essential business services and by connecting businesses to information they can use, to opportunities for growth and to a network of local chambers, businesses, decision-makers and peers from across the country, in every sector of the economy and at all levels of government, as well as internationally. We are unapologetic in our support for business and the vital role it plays in building and sustaining our great nation.

ABOUT CANADIAN AGRI-FOOD TRADE ALLIANCE

CAFTA is the voice of Canada’s agri-food exporters, representing the 90% of farmers who depend on trade and the ranchers, producers, processors and exporters who want to grow the economy through better access to international markets. This includes the beef, pork, meat, grains, cereals, pulses, soybeans, canola as well as the sugar, malt, and processed food industries. The sectors CAFTA represents contribute nearly $100 billion to Canada’s economy annually and support over a million jobs in urban and rural communities across Canada.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Stefi Proulx
Director of Communications
Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
C:  613-292-6070 | stefi.proulx@cme-mec.ca | @CME_MEC