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Canada has just put its signature to the biggest free trade deal ever negotiated. Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland was at the formal ceremony in Auckland, New Zealand, where the Trans Pacific Partnership was inked.

The TPP, as it's known, links together 12 Pacific Rim countries, including the United States and Japan, in a broad trade pact representing 40 per cent of the world's economies. Though that's if all member countries ratify the pact. And there are plenty of voices urging Canada not to.

One of the TPP's most vocal critics has been Jim Balsillie. The former co-CEO of Research in Motion, now known as Blackberry, helped create Canada's most successful technology company ever, before leaving in 2012 over strategic differences.

(Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Balsille, co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, is adamant ratifying the TPP would be Canada's worst-ever foreign policy move. He fears signing the deal would cripple the innovation sector, which he adds is already lagging behind the rest of the world.



What do you think the TPP deal would mean for the country, or your industry?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Julian Uzielli.

