An unintended consequence: The Canadian domestic spin‐off of government procurement trade agreements

Abstract

With ever‐greater trade liberalisation, not only border issues but also issues behind the border have come under the purview of international trade negotiations. Government procurement obligations undertaken by Canada in both international and internal trade agreements have resulted in a marked spin‐off back into the domestic economy ‐ a spin‐off that was presumably unforeseen in the course of the negotiations. The author argues that the domestic spin‐off of the bid‐challenge system, instituted as a result of these negotiations, still comes as a surprise to Canadian trade officials. In order to understand why the domestic benefits, particularly the federal bid challenge system, were unexpected, this paper retraces the negotiating history of Canadian procurement trade agreements and explains the role and mandate of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT), and its predecessor, the Procurement Review Board of Canada (PRB).