B.C. supports Canada-EU trade deal, with the exception of drug-patent protection

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Liberal government has high praise for Canada’s agreement-in-principle on a trade deal with the European Union, but it has some reservations around higher prescription drug costs.

B.C.’s International Trade Minister Teresa Wat says the agreement gives preferential treatment to B.C. companies selling goods and services to European Union countries — the world’s largest trading block with a combined gross domestic product of $17 trillion.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in Brussels today to announce the deal, which still requires final negotiations and approvals from the European countries and Canada’s provinces and territories.

Wat says B.C. was an active participant in the negotiations over the past four years, often advising Canadian negotiators on provincial, municipal and business concerns.

The minister says B.C. did raised concerns during the negotiations over the extension of drug patent protection to the Europeans, because it would delay the introduction of cheaper, generic drugs by up to two years.

She says B.C. is now urging the federal government to embrace other international trade negotiations with the province’s priority markets in the Asia-Pacific region.