Quebec's International Relations During the Negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (in French)

Abstract

The Commission of the Institutions of the French National Assembly of Quebec took the initiative to publish a document of consultation entitled “Quebec and the Free Trade Area of the Americas: Political and socio-economic effects,” in order to hold public audiences from September 26, 2000. The present report results from research undertaken within the framework of an action-research project, of which just contents complementary of the results of research that we could not expose in our call report which is an activity of integration obligatory to obtaining the Master’s degree in Public Administration with concentration in International Management of the ENAP. Our mandate was to identify a problematic situation of international administrative nature, to clarify it with the constituent and to formulate proposals for solutions to the Quebec’s Ministry of International Relations (see Lapointe, Jean-Claude, 2000a). The present report is deposited at the National School of Public Administration and is submitted to the Commissions of the Institutions of the French National Assembly of Quebec which is competent as regards to intergovernmental relations (Canadian and International Affairs) (Lapointe, Jean-Claude, 2000b). The Chapter-I aims at exploring the problems of the multilateral trade negotiations, the FTAA and the integration of the Americas. Our methodology explains the strategy of research per exploratory case study and the techniques of data acquisition, the results and the limits of the report. The Chapter-II presents the ministry for the International Relations of Quebec (MRI) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada (DFAIT). We study the foreseeable future of the ZLEA and the integration of the Americas starting from the Summit of the Americas of Miami (1994) with its Statement of Principles of Miami and its Action plan. The context of the negotiations of the FTAA and the integration of the Americas is set up with IIe Summit of the Americas of Santiago (1998) with the Declaration of Santiago and its Action plan. The official launching of the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of Americas (FTAA) from here to 2005 must follow the principles and objectives of negotiation fixed in the Ministerial Declaration of San Jose (1998). The Chapter-III is divided into two parts to establish our conceptual framework. Part 3.1 relates to the role of the State in the context of globalization, to the actors of the international community of the Americas, to the practice of Quebec and Canada on the international scene and to the legal and government systems in the Americas. Part 3.2 approaches the concepts of Free Trade and Protectionism according to the international economic theory before presenting the former negotiations of the Can-US-FTA, the NAFTA and the Uruguay Round of the GATT/WTO to then evaluate the arguments in favour of regionalism and/or multilateralism. The Chapter-IV analysis starts with the public international law and especially the international commercial law which has an impact on the constitutional and administrative law of Quebec. The constitutional division of powers in the federation determines the governments which can act, that is to say according to the relevant rules and principles. We present the results obtained at the time of three seminars and conferences on the development of the community of Americas: Hemispherical integration after the Summit of Santiago? Una gran familia? ; Peace Keeping: a Concept in Evolution; Conference of Montreal on the Americas of the XXI Century and we pose a diagnosis to specify the problem to be solved. The Chapter-V proposes a solution and Chapter-VI offers some recommendations for the development of the International Relations Policy of Quebec in the Americas and the FTAA. In Chapter-VII our CONCLUSION discusses the Neo-federalists or Communitarianists visions of the integration of the Americas.Memory Brief Submitted to the Committee on Institutions of the French National Assembly of Quebec and Deposited with the ENAP - National School of Public Administration, University of Quebec.