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Ontario and Quebec are poised to open the bidding process to foreign companies - to build hospitals, schools and universities in their provinces - as part of a proposed trade accord with the European Union.

The country's two largest provinces will, for the first time, make the commitments under the World Trade Organization's government procurement agreement, according to documents obtained by public-sector unions. The documents appear to be part of the wider Canada-U.S. agreement to exempt domestic firms from protectionist Buy American provisions.

The unions are opposed to a deal that they say commits Canada to permanently opening its markets to foreign bidders while getting little in return.

Under the Buy American deal reached between the Harper government and the Obama administration last week, Canadian companies can now bid on U.S. infrastructure projects for the remainder of Washington's $787-billion stimulus program.

As well, the agreement unblocks a major obstacle to a proposed trade accord between Canada and the European Union, which wants access to provincial markets. European countries that sign on to the WTO accord, in addition to the 37 states that are part of the Buy American deal, are eligible.

"This isn't just about some short-term deal," Fred Hahn, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees' Ontario wing, said at a news conference yesterday. "It binds us forever."

The documents released by the unions say Canada today will submit a revised offer to the WTO, stipulating what provincial agencies and services are to be included.

Every province, with the exception of Ontario and Quebec, will expressly exclude hospitals, schools and universities from the list of eligible infrastructure projects, the documents say. Quebec will protect itself to a certain extent from foreign competition through an exemption that applies to "cultural or artistic goods and services," the documents say.

Ontario will exempt public-transit equipment and highway construction projects, while giving foreign companies unrestricted access to such public-sector projects as hospitals and schools.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday that political leaders must guard against protectionism.

"It's always tempting to succumb to the notion that we'll just look after ourselves, but nobody can get away with that any more in a global economy," he told reporters yesterday. "We shouldn't think of ourselves as being in different ships. We're all in one big ark."

The accord is subject to the negotiation of mutually acceptable terms, the documents say. But Erin Weir, economist at the United Steelworkers, said Canada has had little success selling goods and services to European Union countries, leaving it with a large trade deficit.

"The result of further liberalization would presumably result in an even bigger manufacturing trade deficit with Europe and the consequent loss of Canadian jobs," Mr. Weir said in an interview.

Lawrence Herman, a trade lawyer at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, said all the accord does is give foreign companies the opportunity to bid on Canadian projects.

"It doesn't say you get the automatic right to come in and build our hospitals and our universities," Mr. Herman.