Short-Term Effects of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement on Municipal Procurement in Canada

Abstract

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union, which entered into force in 2017, is the first international trade agreement that grants access to government procurement markets in Canadian municipalities. In the short term, will the agreement lead to major changes in the policies and procedures of Canadian local government procurement authorities or to changes in the proportion of foreign-controlled companies that win contracts? The magnitude of the impact depends on how the current practices of municipalities differ from those that are required under CETA. We focus on large Canadian municipalities and build our arguments on the basis of key informant interviews, analysis of legal and policy documents, and the econometric analysis of contract-level municipal data. Our conclusion is that CETA will not greatly affect process or outcomes, at least not in the short term.