The three ring NAFTA 2.0 circus has arrived in Ottawa – at the old City Hall on Green Island.If the seeds of a trade war are sown over the next week the venue has a history closely tied to Canada's war efforts and defence for nearly 200 years.Green Island was named after Patrick Green who quarried stone for the Rideau Canal built as a precaution related to possible war with the U.S . Title to the Island was transferred to the Ordnance Department in 1843. It used the island as a rental property which saw a range of industries built to provide necessities of life including a sawmill, a foundry, a distillery and a brewery.During World War II and for some years afterward it housed in the wartime “Temporary Buildings” Clarence Decatur Howe's Department of Munitions and Supply. Close by was Canada's secret Chemical Weapons lab. C.D., the Minister of Everything, was no doubt housed closer to the Parliament Buildings.Don't expect war of any kind to break out over the next few days – but it is comforting to know if it does that the venue should be Canada friendly.NAFTA 2.0 is badly in need of momentum. In describing the pace, the Canadian Press's Joan Bryden recalled Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit “The hurrier I go the behinder I get”. Negotiators on all sides would welcome closure or virtual closure on several low hanging fruit chapters such as:
- Small and Medium Sized business
- e-Commerce/Digital trade
- Agriculture (other than market access)
- Competition Policy
- Small- and Medium sized enterprises,
- E-commerce and digital trade,
- Competition issues,
- Transparency and Anti-Corruption,
- Agriculture (other than market access).