Canada's International Trade Obligations: Barrier or opportunity for sustainable public procurement?

This research paper examines whether Canada's international trade obligations, specifically under the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and CETA, hinder or facilitate sustainable public procurement. It concludes that while trade agreements do not impede sustainable procurement, they do prohibit 'buying local' and discourage favoring specific social groups. The paper argues that the primary barriers to sustainability are not regulatory, but rather relate to agency capacity, funding, and political will.

• International trade agreements, including the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement and the Canada–EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), do not prevent sustainable public procurement, although they prohibit 'buying local' and discourage favoring specific groups such as Indigenous-owned or women-owned enterprises.
• The perceived barriers to sustainable procurement are not the regulatory frameworks themselves, but rather a lack of political will, financial constraints, the capacity of procurement agencies, and a failure to view public procurement as a strategic government function.
• While the number of Canadian entities subject to international trade rules grew following the adoption of CETA, many procurement processes remain outside the scope of these agreements.

APA

Casier,, L. (2019). Canada's International Trade Obligations: Barrier or opportunity for sustainable public procurement? International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/canadas-international-trade-obligations-barrier-or-opportunity-sustainable

Chicago

Casier,, Liesbeth. Canada's International Trade Obligations: Barrier or opportunity for sustainable public procurement? International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2019. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/canadas-international-trade-obligations-barrier-or-opportunity-sustainable.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Casier, |first1=Liesbeth |title=Canada's International Trade Obligations: Barrier or opportunity for sustainable public procurement? |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=26 March 2019 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/canadas-international-trade-obligations-barrier-or-opportunity-sustainable |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{casier2019canadas, author = {Casier,, Liesbeth}, title = {{Canada's International Trade Obligations: Barrier or opportunity for sustainable public procurement?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2019}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/canadas-international-trade-obligations-barrier-or-opportunity-sustainable}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }