OTTAWA -- Canada has dispatched its special envoy on its trade deal with the European Union to meet with the leaders of the Belgian region that voted to reject the deal.
Pierre Pettigrew, a former Liberal trade and foreign minister recently appointed by the current Liberal government, is off to Paris to meet with representatives of Belgium's Wallonia region after its legislature voted earlier today to reject the agreement, known as CETA.
A spokesman for Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada continues to push with its European partners to get the deal signed.
EU trade ministers meet next week to consider the pact.
The following week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is to meet with his EU counterparts at a summit in Brussels where the two sides are expect to sign the deal.
The Wallonia vote has created headaches for Belgium's national government because its constitution gives its three regional governments -- Wallonia being one of them -- a potential veto over the deal, which has been seven years in the making.
