Trade Compliance
Compliance with Trade Agreements
The Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) provides legislative direction across all provinces and territories of Canada. In addition, regional trade agreements may impact procurement laws depending on your jurisdiction, including:
- The Ontario-Quebec Trade and Cooperation Agreement (OQTCA) for Ontario and Quebec
- The New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA) for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia
What are the obligations under these regulations?
Trade agreements (along with government directives and policies) generally require public sector purchasers to conduct open, competitive procurement processes. This requirement arises if the estimated value of the goods or services to be purchased exceeds certain value thresholds.
This means that once the value threshold is exceeded, the purchaser must purchase from a contractor who is successful in a competitive process (e.g. a request for proposals, request for quotation) that is open to the entire marketplace. That competitive process must meet the requirements of applicable trade treaties, which usually involves posting notices, disclosing relevant information, running a fair evaluation process, etc.
How do I comply with the legislation?
We are keenly aware of the trade agreement obligations that apply to our members. In order to ensure compliance for ourselves and our membership, we:
- actively review our policies, practices, and process documents to continually improve them based on feedback. We have also engaged external experts to review our process documents to support trade agreement compliance.
- only run open, competitive procurement processes – we do not engage in invitation-only or non-competitive contract awards (we leave that to our members to decide).
- are transparent about who our members are. Each municipal association involved is able to provide a list of relevant members so that the marketplace is aware of who may purchase through awarded contracts.
- ensure our processes account for distributor networks. A network of regional distributors can collectively bid on opportunities, with member organizations entering into contracts with the applicable distributor for their region. Suppliers are not permitted to charge higher pricing than was proposed to us, and must honour the terms of the agreement.
Canoe is committed to ensuring all programs provide your organization with the best value available. Contact your local Client Relations Manager if you have any other questions or need additional support at any step of the process – we’re here to help!
At Canoe, we work hard to ensure that our contracts and procedures are aligned with all relevant trade regulations and obligations, including:
- Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)
- New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA)
- Ontario-Quebec Trade and Cooperation Agreement (OQTCA)
- Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)
Trade agreements, along with government directives and policies, generally require public sector purchasers to conduct open, competitive procurement processes. This requirement applies when the estimated value of the goods or services exceeds certain thresholds.
When these thresholds are surpassed, the purchase must be made from a supplier who has been successful in a competitive process (such as a request for proposals or a request for quotation) that is open to the entire marketplace. This process must meet applicable trade treaty requirements, which typically include posting notices, disclosing relevant information, and conducting a fair evaluation process.
Dedication to Public Procurement Excellence
As the national leader in group purchasing in Canada, we are driven to advance public procurement standards and deliver value to our members.
We achieve this by:
We are committed to ensuring that all our contracts and programs deliver the best value possible. If you have questions or need further assistance at any step, please reach out to your local client relations manager. We’re ready to support you!