Canada will sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement next week at a TPP meeting in New Zealand -- but this doesn't mean the deal is ratified.

In an open letter regarding the massive, multi-lateral trade deal, Canada's Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada will attend next week's meeting in order to remain at the table with the other countries, but Freeland says this will not seal the deal, as more consultation and examination is needed.

"Many Canadians still have not made up their minds, and many more still have questions," Freeland said in her letter. "That is why our consultations with the provinces, municipal officials, students, labour leaders and members, business representatives, academic experts, and others are just the beginning of the examination needed to fully understand the TPP's impact."

Freeland noted only a majority vote in Parliament can allow the agreement to take force. She said the signing is simply a technical step in the process to allow the text to be tabled in Parliament for consideration and debate.

Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, thinks this move is a good sign.

"I think the government has recognized the negotiated deal was a balance," he says. "We can't be outside the deal. If all of a sudden the United States and Australia — the two main players I'd be worried about — have access to the Japanese market in a preferential way to Canadian producers, we'll be shut out of those markets."

Bonnett thinks the biggest wild card in the future of the TPP will be the American election and whether or not our southern neighbours approve the deal.