Debunking the myths about the benefits of EU-Canada free trade

April 25, 2012

There is a lot at stake for Canadian municipalities in the proposed EU-Canada free trade deal. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) would set new limits on municipal procurement, policies and regulations. Having looked into the impacts the CETA would have on their powers, over 50 municipal governments have passed motions seeking more information and a greater say in the negotiations. More than half of these municipalities, including many large cities like Toronto, Mississauga and Hamilton, are asking the provinces to exclude local governments entirely from the EU trade deal.

The federal government has tried to pacify these growing concerns in a Q&A-style document circulated to Canadian municipalities. Unfortunately, the information in the document is extremely misleading and in parts inaccurate. It also fails to address many of the real concerns being raised by municipal governments through their CETA motions. The following myth-busting guide attempts to set the record straight for municipal councillors and officials, as well as the general public.

Click here to download the myth-busting guide.

Click here to see the federal Q+A.

On the occasion of an 11th round of Canada-EU trade and investment negotiations in Brussels, the Trade Justice Network and RQIC have sent a letter to Members of the European Parliament on the trade committee, encouraging them to not include an investor-state dispute settlement mechanism in the CETA.

You can read the letter here.

Ottawa, October 20, 2011 -- Today, as a 9^th round of Canada-EU free trade talks comes to an end in Ottawa, over 80 European and Canadian civil society groups demanded that political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic stop negotiating the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and release the offers now.

Read the joint declaration here.

WHERE: Ottawa Public Library Main Branch (120 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa)
WHEN: 3:30 - 5 p.m., Tuesday, October 18

A ninth and possibly final round of Canada-European Union free trade negotiations takes place in Ottawa from October 17 to 21. The Harper government has made it clear that CETA - the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement - is an important part of the Conservative's economic action plan. But at what cost to social, economic and environmental policy? Opposition parties are starting to raise questions about CETA at trade committee and in the media. Meanwhile, public skepticism about the deal is growing in Canada, Quebec and the European Union. Please join us for a free public discussion on the Canada-EU trade negotiations with Members of Parliament. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

Part of the CETA WEEK OF ACTION

WHO

Robert Chisholm, NDP trade critic
Wayne Easter, Liberal trade critic
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada
André Bellavance, Bloc Québécois trade critic

Event sponsored by the Trade Justice Network, Quebec Network on Continental Integration, the School of International Development and Global Studies - University of Ottawa, and the Institute of Political Economy - Carleton University.

For more information write TJN.RCJ@gmail.com or rqic@ciso.qc.ca

Like we did during the 2011 federal election, the Trade Justice Network sent a CETA questionnaire to all provincial and territorial leadership hopefuls. 

Click here to read our survey.

Here are the letters we've received so far...

ONTARIO

Liberals
NDP

Brussels, July 15, 2011 -- Members of the Trade Justice Network and Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale (RQIC), in Europe this week to monitor the 8^th round of Canada-EU free trade negotiations, remain highly concerned the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) will hurt Canadian jobs and public services. These groups say the negotiations have not advanced as quickly as the Harper government expected because of growing concerns in Europe about the threats CETA presents to economic, environmental and social policies, as well as public services.

While in Brussels, London and Paris this week, the Canadian and Quebec networks met with European parliamentarians, as well as representatives from labour unions, environmental, cultural, farming and community groups from several EU member states, all of whom are paying close attention to these negotiations.

At the very moment European governments are trying to keep the Eurozone from disintegrating, the two networks question why Canada and the EU are choosing to entrench the free-market policies that led to the current crisis in the first place. Studies in Canada show CETA could result in between 28,000 and 150,000 lost jobs, would increase drug costs by $2.8 billion, and threaten local purchasing policies by municipalities and utilities.

CETA, through its investment, services and procurement chapters, is designed to encourage the privatization of public services, and to dissuade governments from doing anything serious to address climate change, say the networks. The current economic, social and environmental crises demand new answers and policies which CETA makes impossible.

The Trade Justice Network and Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale are repeating their call for transparency and a full public discussion in Canada and the EU on CETA. Canadians and Europeans have the right to a say in their economic futures.

-30-

For more information:

Stuart Trew, for the Trade Justice Network: +1-647-222-9782, strew@canadians.org
Amelie Nguyen, for the Reseau quebecois sur l'integration continentale: +32 48 91 45 764, analyste@aqoci.qc.ca

An eighth and critical round of Canada-European Union free trade negotiations toward a "Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement" (CETA) will take place July 11 to 15 in Brussels. For the third time since CETA negotiations began in May 2009, a delegation of Canadian civil society organizations from the Trade Justice Network (http://tradejustice.ca) and Réseau québécois sur l'intégration continentale (RQIC - http://www.rqic.alternatives.ca/RQIC-fr.htm) will travel to Europe (London, Brussels and Paris) to discuss its concerns about CETA with Members of the European Parliament, unions, and NGOs. The two networks contest the content and closed-doors process of the Canada-EU trade negotiations, which threaten public services, environmental policy, Indigenous rights, municipal autonomy, farming and cultural policy, jobs and other important areas of social policy.

Ottawa and Montreal, April 29, 2011 - A survey of federal political parties, released days before the federal election, shows significant differences of opinion, and in some cases strong concerns with the former Conservative government's free trade negotiations with the European Union. The Trade Justice Network and Québec Network on Continental Integration, whose member organizations represent more than four million people, sent 12 questions on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) to the five mainstream parties competing for federal office. The two networks heard back from the Bloc, Liberals and NDP. The Conservative and Green parties did not return surveys.

Questions ranged from the general to specific, including how the parties felt about EU requests to water down Canada's cultural protections, constraints on the spending options of local governments, opening public drinking water systems to private competition, and whether governments should use trade agreements to pressure other countries against adopting climate or public health measures that restrict exports or investment.

The NDP "views investor-state provisions as an inequitable element in trade agreements that privilege corporations in a way that conflicts with the public interest." On CETA's intellectual property chapter, the party says: "Tying Canada further into arrangements that protect the patent drug industry is not in the interests of a country that must reassess its entire approach to pharmaceutical therapy in our public health care system." The NDP supports a broad cultural exception, as well as a health exception stipulating that "nothing in CETA shall be construed as applying to health care or public health insurance." The NDP stated "the current version of the Canada-EU Economic Trade Agreement needs significant improvement if the interests of Canadians are to be protected."

The Liberal Party says "the opportunities for both Canada and Europe are extraordinary and we support the pursuit of this CETA with the EU." The party did not take a position on each question but instead weighed the pros and cons of opening procurement markets, accepting the EU's proposed copyright and patent reforms, and agriculture. A question on supply management is not addressed, and the party does not endorse or reject a cultural exception, claiming: "We must address the conflict between protection versus expansion" of cultural industries.

The Bloc Quebecois says in general it is in Quebec's interests to diversify trade away from the United States, whether in the EU or elsewhere. But the party says CETA gives Canada a chance to incorporate more progressive rules into its trade agreements which would respect labour rights, environmental protections and engage civil society more fully. The Bloc would like to see new benchmarks for investment protection so that environmental and public health policies are not challenged as trade barriers. They insist on a strong cultural exception, they would protect supply management of agricultural sectors, and like the NDP they say public agencies should be able use purchasing, for example of transportation and energy services, as a tool for economic development.

Both the Bloc and NDP would protect public water systems, and retain the ability of the federal government to test whether large foreign takeovers of Canadian firms are in the public interest. The NDP and Liberals say they would be more open and transparent about trade negotiations than the Harper government has been.

The Trade Justice Network and Québec Network on Continental Integration feel strongly there has not been adequate consultation with Canadians on CETA, and that the deal will have an impact on too many domestic policies for it to be decided behind closed doors by a handful of trade negotiators. The networks are calling on whomever forms the next government to seek and acquire an informed, consensual mandate from the public on how, or whether, to continue negotiating CETA with the EU.

Responses from the parties:

NDP

Liberals

Bloc

For more information:

Trade Justice Network: Stuart Trew, tel. 647-222-9782; TJN.RCJ@gmail.com

RQIC: Pierre-Yves Serinet, tel. 514-276-1075; rqic@ciso.qc.ca

ABOUT THE NETWORKS:

The Trade Justice Network (http://tradejustice.ca) comprises environmental, labour, cultural, farmers, Indigenous, student and social justice organizations critical of the CETA negotiations for their secrecy, but also for the impact the proposed deal would have on public services, local autonomy, environmental policy, Indigenous rights and cultural protections. The Québec Network on Continental Integration (http://www.rqic.alternatives.ca/RQIC-fr.htm) is a multisectoral coalition that includes more than 20 social organizations from Québec, representing over a million people. Its objective is to promote an alternative vision of development for the Americas and internationally. Together, the networks represent over four million Canadians.

This federal election comes at an important moment in the ongoing negotiations toward a Canada-European Union free trade agreement, or CETA. The federal, provincial and territorial governments have been negotiating with the EU since October 2009. The deal as envisioned by the current government would be much larger and have much deeper impacts on the Canadian economy than NAFTA. Accordingly, the provinces and territories have been asked to the negotiating table and will be expected to make sacrifices in order to achieve their stated market access gains in the European market. 

The Trade Justice Network is comprised of environmental, labour, cultural, farmers, Indigenous, student and social justice organizations who are critical of the CETA negotiations for their secrecy, but also for the impact the proposed deal would have on public services, local autonomy, environmental policy, Indigenous rights and cultural protections. We've compiled a list of 20 questions you can ask your local candidates to find out where they stand on the Canada-EU trade agreement.

1. What, in your view, are the major potential benefits of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)?

2. What, in your view, are the major potential risks or drawbacks of CETA?

3. Does your party support the inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement process in CETA?

4. Does your party support the inclusion of municipal drinking water services under the procurement, services and/or investment rules of CETA?

5. Does your party support the right of provincial and local governments to "Buy Canadian" and/or to consider local economic development benefits when tendering public procurement contracts?

6. Should provincial and territorial governments be held liable for any damages when a provincial, territorial or municipal measure is found to violate CETA?

7. Does your party support extended patent terms for medicines as demanded by the European Commission and the Canadian brand-name drug industry? Related to this, should the federal government be responsible for any additional costs for medicines incurred by the provinces and consumers due to strengthened patent protection under CETA?

8. Do you support the position of the Canadian auto industry and unions that the automobile sector should be excluded from CETA?

9. Does your party support a broad cultural exemption in CETA that would exclude books, magazines, newspapers, publishing, broadcasting, film, video, performing arts and all other aspects of Canadian and European cultural industries?

10. Does your party agree that Canadian governments should protect the right to expand public health insurance into new areas, such as Pharmacare or home care, without having to pay compensation to foreign insurance companies or health care providers under CETA?

11. Does your party support a broad exclusion for health care that would stipulate that nothing in CETA shall be construed as applying to health care or public health insurance?

12. Will your party ensure that Canada's agricultural orderly marketing systems, including supply management and the Canadian Wheat Board, are not adversely affected by CETA?

13. Would your party agree that labour mobility is a human right, not a commercial issue, and therefore should not be included in CETA?

14. The October draft text of CETA says that violations of labour rights occurring within the public sector could not be brought up within the CETA labour provisions. Does your party oppose or accept this view?

15. Do you agree that in return for dropping high European tariffs on Canadian fish products, European boats should be allowed to catch more fish in or adjacent to Canadian waters?

16. Do you agree that Canada should maintain its current export bans on unprocessed fish and raw logs under CETA?

17. Do you support the maintenance of existing foreign ownership limits in telecommunications under CETA? What about in the financial services and fisheries sectors?

18. Should Canada protect or renounce its current ability to screen foreign investment to ensure that it is of net benefit to the country?

19. Do you agree that Canada should continue to pressure the EU against adopting fuel quality standards that would assign a carbon content value for tar sands above the value for conventional fuels?

20. Do you believe that CETA should remove European non-tariff market access barriers such as regulations on GMOs in food, hormone-treated beef and seal products?

Let us know what your local candidates have to say about CETA by sending answers to TJN.RCJ@gmail.com.