Friday, April 13, 2012

Canada’s WTO defence of Green Energy Act ...

The Council of Canadians (not all Canadians) posted an interpretation of the WTO activities surrounding Ontario's Green Energy Act.  The article is interesting in specifying the OPA as a body specifically excluded, in Ontario's eyes (Canada essentially has no choice but to defend the action), from WTO procurement rules.  
The speculation has been that the OPA's days were numbered.
Perhaps it's the IESO that shouldn't be ordering more letterhead.

Canada’s WTO defence of Green Energy Act trumpets public procurement as a local development tool:
"The WTO Government Procurement Agreement, to which Canada, the EU and Japan are signatory countries, would ban local preferences in the Green Energy Act had Ontario not excluded the Ontario Power Authority from its February 2010 commitments. Had Ontario not done this, Japan and the EU would have been able to challenge the Act as an illegal offset or as otherwise upsetting national treatment rules that forbid a covered government agency from discriminating among local suppliers based on where those suppliers source their goods or services.
The Province also excluded the OPA in the temporary Canada-U.S. procurement agreement, which was signed at the same time that the provinces were listed under the WTO procurement agreement. "

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