<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-fast-vancouver-tpp-1.3262687" style="color: purple;" class="">http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-fast-vancouver-tpp-1.3262687</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Ed Fast says text of TPP trade deal available within days<o:p class=""></o:p></h1><h3 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trade minister joined outgoing Industry Minister James Moore for breakfast session at Vancouver Board of Trade<o:p class=""></o:p></h3><p class="small" style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="spaced">The Canadian Press</span> <span class="delimited">Posted: Oct 08, 2015 12:26 PM ET</span> Last Updated: Oct 08, 2015 12:26 PM ET <o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Canada's trade minister is promising to release a provisional copy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement in the next few days — but Ed Fast won't say whether it will include details of the all-important side deals.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"We fully expect over the next few days we'll be able to release a form of the text," Fast said Thursday during a breakfast question-and-answer session being hosted by the Vancouver Board of Trade.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The text is currently being translated into several languages, including Spanish, he added.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"We've asked the TPP partners to allow us ... to release a provisional text. It may not be fully scrubbed but it will confirm the outcomes we've already released in summary earlier this week."<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Trade agreements of such scale are very complex documents and it's vital that they be carefully translated to ensure each word correctly reflects the agreement, he added.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"Remember this agreement was only concluded three days ago. You have 1500 pages of legal text," Fast said.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">He said he can't commit to releasing the so-called side letters — individual agreements between countries on specific sectors.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"I can't say that (side letters) will be part of the provisional (agreement)," he said. "We're looking at what the 12 TPP partners will agree to release."<o:p class=""></o:p></p><h2 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 18pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Forestry side deal with Japan<o:p class=""></o:p></h2><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">One side letter, he said, would include a deal on processed and unprocessed forestry products between Canada and Japan.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"We have secured outcomes across all the major sectors ... including forestry products, value-added wood products," said Fast. "Markets like Japan are going to much more available to Canadian exporters."<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The minister said he didn't know how many side deals there are and referred the question to his staff.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Both Fast and Industry Minister James Moore, who also took part in the discussion, were asked about U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hillary-clinton-opposes-tpp-trade-deal-1.3261291" style="color: purple;" class="">earlier this week came out against the agreement</a>.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Clinton said that based on what she knows so far about the pact, she can't support it because it doesn't appear to do enough to protect American jobs, wages and national security.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Fast said the Americans are in the midst of a race for presidential nominations and that her comments should be viewed in that context.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"They've got their own silly season they're in. I'm focused on making sure Canadians understand what's in this agreement," he said.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">"This cements our position as one of the great free trading nations of the world."<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Fast says he believes the deal, which includes 11 other Pacific Rim countries, is worth about $3.5 billion of additional economic activity to Canada, based on estimates from his officials.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">He says it was vital for Canada to be at the table and part of the deal, billed by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper as the biggest trade agreement of its kind in history.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>