The Minister for Internal Trade was a member of the Cabinet of Canada. The minister can be appointed under the Agreement on Internal Trade Implementation Act of 1996; however, it was not used until 2005 and by default the Minister of Industry was responsible for the administration of the act.
To date its only minister was Mauril Bélanger who took on the role on May 17, 2005, and held it for the remainder of the 27th Ministry, until February 6, 2006.
Key:
No. | Portrait | Name | Term of office | Political party | Ministry | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mauril Bélanger | May 17, 2005 | February 6, 2006 | Liberal | 27 (Martin) |
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its preamble, its purpose was the "substantial reduction of tariffs and other trade barriers and the elimination of preferences, on a reciprocal and mutually advantageous basis."
The Free Trade Area of the Americas was a proposed agreement to eliminate or reduce the trade barriers among all countries in the Americas, excluding Cuba. Negotiations to establish the FTAA ended in failure, however, with all parties unable to reach an agreement by the 2005 deadline they had set for themselves.
The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the Agreement on the European Economic Area, an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EEA links the EU member states and three of the four EFTA states into an internal market governed by the same basic rules. These rules aim to enable free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital within the European single market, including the freedom to choose residence in any country within this area. The EEA was established on 1 January 1994 upon entry into force of the EEA Agreement. The contracting parties are the EU, its member states, and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. New members of EFTA would not automatically become party to the EEA Agreement, as each EFTA State decides on its own whether it applies to be party to the EEA Agreement or not. According to Article 128 of the EEA Agreement, "any European State becoming a member of the Community shall, and the Swiss Confederation or any European State becoming a member of EFTA may, apply to become a party to this Agreement. It shall address its application to the EEA Council." EFTA does not envisage political integration. It does not issue legislation, nor does it establish a customs union. Schengen is not a part of the EEA Agreement. However, all of the four EFTA States participate in Schengen and Dublin through bilateral agreements. They all apply the provisions of the relevant Acquis.
The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), official name as the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America, was a bilateral trade agreement reached by negotiators for Canada and the United States on October 4, 1987, and signed by the leaders of both countries on January 2, 1988. The agreement phased out a wide range of trade restrictions in stages, over a ten-year period, and resulted in a substantial increase in cross-border trade as an improvement to the last replaced trade deal. With the addition of Mexico in 1994, CUSFTA was superseded by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The Dominican Republic–Central America–United States Free Trade Agreement is a free trade agreement. Originally, the agreement encompassed the United States and the Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, and was called CAFTA. In 2004, the Dominican Republic joined the negotiations, and the agreement was renamed CAFTA-DR.
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is an international trade agreement between countries mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Founded by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, CEFTA in 2006 expanded to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Kosovo.
James Gordon Carr was a Canadian politician, cabinet minister, journalist, and professional oboist. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as the member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre from 2015 until his death on December 12, 2022. Carr died days after his Private Members Bill, Bill C-235, An Act respecting the building of a green economy in the Prairies, passed the House and went to the Senate. He last served as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, until his resignation on September 29, 2022.
Daniel Caspary is a German politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), part of the European People's Party (EPP). Daniel Caspary is now in the fourth legislature of the European Parliament. Daniel Caspary lives in Weingarten. He is married and has five children.
Lee Richardson is a Canadian businessman and politician. He served as the member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Southeast from 1988 to 1993 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and for Calgary Centre from 2004 to 2012. He resigned from the House of Commons in 2012 to accept an appointment as principal secretary to the Premier of Alberta.
A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur when two countries agree to loosen trade restrictions between the two of them, generally to expand business opportunities. Multilateral trade agreements are agreements among three or more countries, and are the most difficult to negotiate and agree.
Edward D. "Ed" Fast is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Abbotsford since 2006. A member of the Conservative Party of Canada, he was Minister for International Trade and Minister for the Asia–Pacific Gateway from 2011 to 2015 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) entered into force on July 1, 1995, and includes government departments, agencies, commissions and Crown corporations of the 10 Canadian provinces, the three territories and the federal government.
Industrial design rights in the European Union are provided at both the Union level by virtue of the Community design and at the national level under individual national laws.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union and its member states. It has been provisionally applied, thus removing 98% of the preexisting tariffs between the two parts.
Commonwealth free trade is the process or proposal of removing barriers of trade between member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. The preferential trade regime within the British Empire continued in some form amongst Commonwealth nations under the Imperial Preference system, until that system was dismantled after World War II due to changes in geopolitics and the pattern of global trade, and the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Community. The idea of promoting renewed inter-Commonwealth trade emerged in the late 20th century as a response to the evolution of the global economy. At one extreme, proposals have been raised for the creation of a multilateral free trade area comprising all member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
The United Kingdom (UK) was a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) from 1 January 1994 to 31 December 2020, following the coming into force of the 1992 EEA Agreement. Membership of the EEA is a consequence of membership of the European Union (EU). The UK ceased to be a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement after its withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020, as it was a member of the EEA by virtue of its EU membership, but retained EEA rights during the Brexit transition period, based on Article 126 of the withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK. During the transition period, which ended on 31 December 2020, the UK and EU negotiated their future relationship.
The United Kingdom was a member state of the European Union (EU) and of its predecessor the European Communities (EC) – principally the European Economic Community (EEC) – from 1 January 1973 until 31 January 2020. Since the foundation of the EEC, the UK had been an important neighbour and then a leading member state, until Brexit ended 47 years of membership. During the UK's time as a member state two referendums were held on the issue of its membership: the first, held on 5 June 1975, resulting in a vote to stay in the EC, and the second, held on 23 June 2016, resulting in a vote to leave the EU.
The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is a free trade agreement signed on 30 December 2020, between the European Union (EU), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the United Kingdom (UK). It provisionally applied from 1 January 2021, when the Brexit transition period ended, before formally entering into force on 1 May 2021, after the ratification processes on both sides were completed: the UK Parliament ratified on 30 December 2020; the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union ratified in late April 2021.
The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in December 2020. Its purpose is to prevent internal trade barriers within the UK, and to restrict the legislative powers of the devolved administrations in economic policy. It is one of several pieces of legislation concerning trade that were passed following the European Union membership referendum, as after Brexit the UK is no longer directly subject to EU law.