Canada should encourage more countries to join the Pacific free trade deal.Ottawa—The Trudeau government should push ahead with obtaining final approval for the new NAFTA trade deal once Parliament starts sitting in December, says the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Coalition (CAFTA).While U.S. approval of the deal remains in doubt, Canada should still proceed with a bill to ratify the deal when the new Parliament convenes Dec. 5. Its first order of business will be to elect a new speaker and the Speech from the Throne that sets out the government's policy plans for the coming year.The new federal cabinet will be unveiled on Nov. 20 and Chrystia Freeland is widely expected to be reappointed foreign affairs minister. She was the lead minister in the NAFTA negotiations and has held meetings since the Oct. 21 Canadian election with U.S. officials on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.CAFTA said there are two-week opportunities for the U.S. Congress to approve the deal in November and December. After that the political gamesmanship associated with the next presidential election takes over.The pace of discussions on the trade deal has accelerated recently “as the two sides continue to iron out differences on the deal's labor, environmental, pharmaceutical and enforceability provisions. Both Democrats and Republicans say meaningful progress is being made,” CAFTA said.Another priority for the Trudeau government should be convincing more countries to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), CAFTA said.“The CPTPP remains integral for Canadian agri-food exporters in the face of persistent attacks on the international rules-based trade regime. Early data show strong gains for Canadian agri-food exports thanks to the CPTPP, particularly to Japan.”The Commission overseeing the deal met in New Zealand last month to formally set in motion its main institutional mechanisms and chart its plans for the coming year.Twelve of the 18 CPTPP committees, including those covering trade ingoods, technical barriers to trade, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), state owned enterprises (SOEs) and environment and labour, met during the meetings in Auckland.Another CAFTA priority is for Canada to continue working toward sweeping reform of the rules of the World Trade Organization launched a year ago in Ottawa.The Ottawa Group wants the WTO to become better at dealing with market-distorting measures such as industrial subsidies and global excess capacity in various sectors.WTO reform is essential for it to remain credible and relevant, CAFTA and many others said. They want the WTO to counter protectionism and encourage transparency, dispute settlement and developing 21st Century trade rules.The WTO remains integral to not only the international trade in agrifood products, but also pivotal in the maintenance of the international rules-based trade regime, CAFTA said. The WTO's goal is to “help producers of goods and services, exporters and importers conduct their business.”Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.