PM warns against opening NAFTA

STEVEN CHASE and KATHERINE O'NEILL AND DAWN WALTON

From Friday's Globe and Mail

February 29, 2008 at 4:57 AM EST

OTTAWA, EDMONTON, CALGARY — It would be a blunder for the next White House to reopen the North American free-trade agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned yesterday in a blunt response to U.S. presidential hopefuls' vows to rewrite or scrap the deal.

Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both pledged this week to cancel NAFTA if they cannot secure significant changes.

During Question Period yesterday, Mr. Harper cautioned that future presidents would be opening a can of worms if they moved to renegotiate the deal - because Canada would want changes too.

"If any American government ever chose to make the mistake of opening [NAFTA], we would have some things we would want to talk about as well," Mr. Harper said.

The Prime Minister didn't elaborate. But International Trade Minister David Emerson warned a day earlier that privileged U.S. access to Canada's energy riches could be disrupted if NAFTA is reopened or scrapped.

Mr. Harper said he doubted that election-year pledges south of the border would ever unravel NAFTA.

"I would caution about jumping to a conclusion about what a future president may do," Mr. Harper said, noting that the Chrétien Liberals threatened to back out of the deal while campaigning in 1993.

"I have learned to take with a grain of salt what opposition politicians say about trade agreements during election campaigns," he said.

Separately, the Canadian embassy in Washington and Mr. Obama's election team denied a CTV report that a senior Obama adviser called Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson within the past month to warn him that Mr. Obama would criticize NAFTA, and to assure him it was "just campaign rhetoric."

However, CTV News stood by its story yesterday, saying that high-level sources in the Harper government confirmed its version of events.

U.S. unions have blamed the deal for the disappearance of thousands of jobs, but studies have repeatedly shown that trade has thrived and all three NAFTA signatories have benefited since the deal took effect in 1994.

In Alberta, which ships much of its oil and natural gas to the United States, Premier Ed Stelmach said he wasn't taking the threat from the two candidates too seriously.

"I've heard similar discussions during [past] elections," Mr. Stelmach said, referring to former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien's pledge in 1993 to scrap NAFTA.

"Of course, during the 13 years he served as prime minister, [Mr. Chrétien] didn't do that because the agreement is good for both counties," the Progressive Conservative Leader said during a provincial election campaign stop.

Mr. Stelmach characterized the attack on NAFTA as Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton "fighting for support" among Democrats.

He said Canada and the United States should instead work together to address the economic threat from abroad.

"But quite frankly, both for Canada and the United States, the biggest competition comes from Asia, and I would sooner work together," he said.

With reports from Shawn McCarthy and AP