Saskatchewan Liberal MP Ralph Goodale says he’s pleased with the new United States, Mexico, Canada Agreement.

He says the new trade agreement with the U-S and Mexico is a good agreement for Canada; it will mean more jobs, more economic activity and more growth on both sides of the border.

Goodale talked with a number of farm leaders from Saskatchewan and says buy and large the reaction to the trade agreement is overwhelmingly positive.

“It preserves very important market access for Canadian grains and oilseeds, pulses, beef and pork for virtually all of our commodities moving into the United States.”

He notes there are obviously some issues that remain to be resolved and the key one is around supply management.

He says the Americans were trying to get rid of it altogether and we refused.

“There’s a small concession on market access which is consistent with what was arrived at under the European Agreement or Pacific Agreement. The overall framework of supply management continues and critically important that market access concession will be fully compensated by the Government of Canada.”

He notes the USMCA also preserves Chapter 19 which is the dispute settlement chapter and how we got rid of U-S Country of Origin Labeling a few years ago.