Britain will push for Canada-EU trade deal despite Brexit, says UK envoy
OTTAWA — Britain’s envoy to Canada says his country will push hard for the speedy approval of the Canada-EU free-trade agreement despite the Brexit referendum decision to leave the 28-country bloc.
High Commissioner Howard Drake told The Canadian Press that Britain is bound by all European Union treaties until it formally negotiates and signs an agreement to leave — a process destined to take more than two years.
In the meantime, Drake said, Britain fully backs the current Canada-EU plan that would see the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement be provisionally applied sometime early next year.
“There is quite an ambitious timetable for that to happen, and we will be in there making it happen,” Drake said.