Experience Publications Signed, Sealed and Delivered? The TPP and Canada’s public postal service

Signed, Sealed and Delivered? The TPP and Canada’s public postal service

Daniel Sheppard and Louis Century

August 21, 2016

Sheppard, Daniel and Century, Louis, Signed, Sealed and Delivered? The TPP and Canada’s public postal service (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, August 2016)

In this report, published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Daniel Sheppard and Louis Century attempt to determine the extent to which rules contained in the Trans-Pacific Partnership may constrain the current and future activities of Canada Post.

They conclude that, while the TPP “does not necessarily render Canada Post’s current activities unlawful,” it will create unnecessary risks of future trade litigation:

Unfortunately, any consultative project for reinventing Canada’s public
postal service must contend with a medley of international trade rules, including those contained in the recently finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP). If ratified, the TPP would create binding obligations on Canada that are enforceable through arbitration proceedings initiated by any of the eleven other signatory states, and in some cases by corporations from those states. Many general rules in the TPP may have an impact on how Canada Post functions today and in the future.

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The TPP’s convoluted, overlapping and ambiguous rules, many of which directly respond to U.S. courier industry lobbying, create real risks of future trade and investment disputes triggered by corporations or member states unhappy with Canada’s policy choices in the area of postal services.