October 1, 2018 | Local, Naval
After almost 14 months of tough bargaining, Canada and the United States have settled their trade differences and reached an agreement on a new North American free trade agreement. This one won't be called NAFTA, however.
The trilateral deal will now be known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). The new name seems to be a nod to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has said he didn't like the name NAFTA.
The federal cabinet met at 10 p.m. Sunday for about an hour to discuss the agreement and, after it ended, the prime minister said it was “a good day for Canada” as he left the building. He said he'd have more to say on Monday.
Officials from the Prime Minister's Office said there will be another cabinet meeting in the morning and likely a news conference, too.
A joint statement was released by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
“Today, Canada and the United States reached an agreement, alongside Mexico, on a new, modernized trade agreement for the 21st Century: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA),” it stated.
“USMCA will give our workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses a high-standard trade agreement that will result in freer markets, fairer trade and robust economic growth in our region. It will strengthen the middle class, and create good, well-paying jobs and new opportunities for the nearly half billion people who call North America home.”
The two lead negotiators added: “We look forward to further deepening our close economic ties when this new agreement enters into force.”
They thanked their Mexican counterpart, Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo, for his work on the deal.
On Twitter, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said “a good NAFTA deal is critical to Canada's economy.”
“Millions of Canadian jobs rely on having free trade with the U.S. and Mexico. We will take a close look at the agreement's provisions as soon as they're available to evaluate the deal Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have signed.”
Perrin Beatty, the president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that with a deal like this, it's important to see all the elements, but details are still scarce.
“However, if the broad lines are as reported, @cafreeland and the Canadian negotiating team have managed to preserve the most important elements of #NAFTA under very challenging circumstances,” he said on Twitter.
Canada and the United States have been working hard to resolve their NAFTA differences since the end of August, after American and Mexican officials reached a bilateral agreement of their own.
However, the prime minister has said throughout the process that his government would not sign a modernized NAFTA just to get a deal. Issues at the table have included the automotive industry, dairy, dispute resolution, cultural industries and intellectual property.
Canada's dairy industry, in particular, has been in American crosshairs for months, with the United States demanding more access to this country's market, as well as changes to parts of Canada's domestic milk-pricing system.
The U.S. has wanted access to about 3.5 per cent of Canada's dairy market, which is similar to what Canada granted under the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership. There were strong indications this was also part of the deal reached Sunday night. Media reports say farmers will be compensated. The Americans have also asked for changes to several dairy classes. iPolitics has learned that the contentious Class 7 has been eliminated in this deal. Class 7 is a domestic pricing class that governs milk ingredients such as skim milk powder and milk proteins.
The difficult politics of the trade deal were immediately on view with Parti Québécois Leader Jean-François Lisée saying on social media that Quebec dairy farms had been sacrificed by Trudeau. Quebec voters will elect a new government on Monday, with all parties saying the new trade deal could not touch Canada's dairy market.
The Toronto Star is reporting that Canada has been able to preserve the dispute-resolution mechanism known as Chapter 19. The federal government had wanted to hold onto that to avoid having disputes settled in U.S. courts.
Other reports say Canada has been able to maintain its exemption for culture.
Ministers had arrived for the cabinet meeting Sunday amid strong indications the end was in sight for a renewed NAFTA.
Freeland and Ambassador to the United States David MacNaughton had spent the day in Ottawa, taking part in an aggressive, long-distance, last-minute push to get Canada into a free trade deal.
Trudeau arrived at his downtown office, located directly across from Parliament Hill, around 7:30 p.m. He did not comment as he headed into the building, but media reports from the U.S. capital were indicating a deal was near.
While most ministers also stayed mum, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said he's “always concerned about the agriculture industry.” He was joined in the meeting room by his deputy minister Chris Forbes.
With files from the Canadian Press
https://ipolitics.ca/2018/09/30/canada-and-the-us-reach-11th-hour-trade-deal/
September 27, 2021 | Local, Aerospace, C4ISR
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) plans to upgrade some of its ageing Boeing CF-18A Hornets with Raytheon Technologies’ APG-79(V)4 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars.
August 10, 2018 | Local, Aerospace
CAE today announced it has been awarded a contract from the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) to provide the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) with a CAE 700MR Series NH90 flight training device (FTD). The contract also includes the provision of long-term maintenance and support services upon delivery of the simulator to RNZAF Base Ohakea in 2020. The contract for the CAE 700MR Series NH90 FTD and through-life support services, including options, is valued at more than C$50 million. CAE recently launched the new CAE 700 Mission Reality (MR) Series FTD at the Farnborough Airshow. The CAE 700MR is designed specifically for military helicopter flight and mission training. “Increased use of New Zealand-based simulators is the best way to train and sustain the number of pilots in the fleet,” says New Zealand Minister for Defence Ron Mark. “The availability of in-country simulator-based flight training will reduce the need to use NH90s for training flights, ensuring the helicopters are available for more operational tasking.” The CAE 700MR Series FTD offers an immersive and realistic training environment in a fixed-based platform that includes a dynamic seat for vibration and motion cueing. The RNZAF NH90 simulator will feature the CAE Medallion-6000XR image generator and an extreme field-of-view visual display system (240 degrees horizontal by 88 degrees vertical) ideal for practicing and rehearsing high-risk maneuvers such as ship deck and confined area landings. “We are pleased the New Zealand Defence Force has once again placed its trust and confidence in CAE to deliver a high-fidelity training system and comprehensive training support services that will contribute to the mission readiness of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's NH90 helicopter aircrews,” said Ian Bell, CAE's Vice President and General Manager, Asia-Pacific/Middle East. CAE currently provides the NZDF with training support services on a range of platforms, including the T-6C ground-based training systems at RNZAF Base Ohakea and the SH-2G(I) helicopter training systems located at RNZAF Base Auckland. https://www.cae.com/news-events/press-releases/royal-new-zealand-air-force-rnzaf-signs-contract-for-cae-700mr-series-nh90-ftd/
June 23, 2020 | Local, Security
Talon Helicopters of Richmond, B.C., is ready to take on nighttime fire attack missions with its night vision goggle (NVG) approved Airbus AS365 N2 Dauphin — the only Transport Canada approved NVG night fire attack medium helicopter in Canada. The nine-passenger aircraft, configured with a night vision cockpit and cabin, has been approved for day and night fire attack operations with the Simplex Model 301 belly tank, which can hold up to 901 litres (238 gallons) of water. Peter Murray, president of Talon Helicopters, said the company is taking advantage of the benefits and safety factors of NVGs, and “the ability to not have a grounding time.” Talon's AS365 is approved to fight fires at night with the Simplex Model 301 belly tank, which can hold up to 901 litres of water. Heath Moffatt Photo He added: “With doing initial attack at night... if a fire starts at 11 p.m. and you're on it at 11:30 p.m., of course you're going to reduce the impact the fire makes if you're on it six or eight hours earlier than if you got on it in the daylight. . . . So we're right on the leading edge of all this.” The NVG certification for the Dauphin has been a multi-year project for Talon. Murray said the company has had the capabilities to fight fires at night for just under a year now, but recently received approval from Transport Canada for all part 702/703 operations with NVGs, which includes flying passengers at night. All of the company's pilots have completed basic NVG training, and “the AS365 pilots have done advanced NVG [training],” said Murray, “so they can go into remote areas and land at night with NVGs.” Murray said the Dauphin outfitted with the Simplex tank is 30 per cent faster than other belly tank-equipped mediums. “It's a fast tank for this machine. With the snorkel stowed, it's 140 knots VNE. . . . With the snorkel on its 120 [knots]. If you're going out to do initial attack and go a distance, you're going to go there at 140 knots and you're going to get there faster,” he said. The Simplex tank has an easy install process with four hard points on the aircraft, and can be removed just as easily for a different mission configuration. “You can probably do the whole hook change and remove the tank within 20 minutes or a half-hour,” said Murray. In place of the belly tank, the Dauphin can be equipped with a 350-gallon FAST Bucket for daytime wildfire operations. A multi-mission helicopter, Talon's Dauphin is also used for medevac, search and rescue, aerial lift work and passenger transport operations. “We call it the Swiss Army knife of helicopters because we have a full approved stretcher kit (we got that approved in Canada), and then we have the hoist as well; we're approved for day and night hoisting” using Transport Canada approved crew harnesses and evacuation equipment, and a 300-foot hoist cable with a 600-pound load limit. Along with its night fire attack and nighttime hoist certifications, Talon is approved for night hover entry/exit. The aircraft has a number of STC'd avionics upgrades including the Garmin GTN 750 touchscreen navigator, helicopter terrain awareness warning system, traffic collision avoidance systems, and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast. Building on the company's NVG firefighting capabilities, Murray said Talon is looking into collecting data on daytime and nighttime fire attack operations to evaluate the difference in the cost of fighting the fires and the cost of losing resources like trees, as well as structures. For example, “what would happen if we put 20,000 litres of water around one burning tree at nighttime... what would we have in the morning? Would it be a mop up for a couple of days, instead of a two-month production?” he said. While the current Covid-19 crisis has delayed these data-gathering initiatives, Murray said the company is still working to pursue them in the near future. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/talon-helicopters-as365-dauphin-fight-fires-night