Global News Of Note: Canada Government Reaches New Agreements With EU, India

What happens abroad impacts MSCI members in North America. Here is the latest economic, trade, and other policy news of note for the last week:

• The European Union and Canada have made several specific enhancements to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), including revisions to strengthen CETA’s investment protections for small and medium-sized businesses. Read more at this link.
• As The Associated Press reported, the Indian and Canadian governments have agreed to strengthen their economic partnership. More specifically, speaking after talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the two countries would soon finalize a “comprehensive economic partnership” which is expected to increase bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030.
• Last week, Bloc Québécois MP Claude DeBellefeuille argued the Canadian government was creating “unfair competition between rail transportation and marine transportation” in its planned federal subsidy program to help reduce the cost of shipping lumber and steel between provinces. The support, which is to begin later this spring is and aims to bring shipping costs down 50 percent, reportedly is only set to go to rail companies. In a letter to Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon, DeBellefeuille said Ottawa’s decision to favor rail over maritime contradicts a declaration under the Transportation Act, which says the government cannot favor “any particular mode of transportation.” Read more from The Canadian Press.