One of the greatest accomplishments of Stephen Harper’s time in office is the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).  The start of talks leading to this crucial free trade agreement were announced on this date in 2009.  After five years of negotiations the deal was concluded, removing almost all tariffs between Canada and members of the EU.  (The ambitious deal removed 98% of duties on goods, but exceptions were made for certain agricultural products.) "This is a big deal. Indeed, this is the biggest deal our country has ever made," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Brussels in 2013 after the draft agreement was signed by him and European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso. "This is a historic win for Canada." In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed the final agreement on behalf of Canada.  CETA is still only in effect in a provisional sense - as the ratification process is still underway at the EU Member level -- but the door has been opened for an enhanced trading relationship between Canada and Europe.  (With the UK's recent exit from the EU, Canada and the United Kingdom will be negotiating a bilateral agreement.) caption id="attachment_556288" align="aligncenter" width="440" PM Stephen Harper and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the 2013 Signing of the Canada-EU Trade Agreement/caption Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist.  He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy.  A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.