TPP HEARINGS - coming to a town near you . . .

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Government wants your input on the TPP (Deadline – April 30, 2016)

[ http://behindthenumbers.ca/2016/03/11/g ... Numbers%29 ]

By Stuart Trew, Behind the Numbers blog March 11, 2016

Canada’s parliamentary standing committee on trade will be travelling Canada to get regional perspectives on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), “to assess the extent to which the agreement, once implemented, would be in the best interests of Canadians,” according to a press release. [ http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications ... l=42&Ses=1 ]

The committee, which normally only leaves Ottawa for international travel related to Canada’s trade negotiations, “expects to hold hearings across Canada over the coming months.” Information about dates and locations will be provided later.

Furthermore, the public is invited to submit written comments on the TPP (max. 1,500 words) to [ ciit-tpp-ptp@parl.gc.ca ], with a deadline of April 30, 2016.

Cross-Canada hearings are a good idea the CCPA has proposed here [ http://behindthenumbers.ca/2015/10/28/r ... g-the-tpp/ ] and here [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... e-election ] , among other places.

Though the Liberal government claims it is no longer possible [ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... e28199345/ ] to make changes to the TPP, the hearings provide an opportunity for people to learn about the deal (including its many downsides) [ http://behindthenumbers.ca/2016/01/18/t ... w-economy/ ], and for the all-party trade committee to gauge the level of public acceptance or antipathy outside of Ottawa’s media bubble.

The Alternative Federal Budget [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites ... cument.pdf ], released yesterday by the CCPA, describes the 12-nation TPP as: “an archetypal trade and investment liberalization agreement built on the NAFTA model.” It identifies (see page 137) the following three aspects of the agreement as especially problematic for Canada:

The TPP contains an ISDS (investor-to-state dispute settlement) mechanism that will allow foreign investors from TPP parties to sue governments before international arbitration tribunals. The deal will deepen and widen Canada’s exposure to these cases, especially from investors from Japan and Australia, where foreign direct investment to Canada is highest. (For more in ISDS, see the July-August issue of the CCPA Monitor [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... august2015 ] or play our video game, State Invaders [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/state ... rs-mobile/ ] .)

The TPP will extend and entrench intellectual property rights—through longer copyright terms, stricter trademark protections, and longer patent terms [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... plications ] in particular—that will reduce access to medicines, restrict Internet freedom [ http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2016/01/the- ... bjectives/ ], and stifle tech innovation in Canada. The TPP will require amendments to Canada’s lauded Copyright Modernization Act, among other laws, mainly to the benefit of multinational media corporations.

The TPP will create serious challenges for key Canadian industries. The automotive sector [ http://www.unifor.org/sites/default/fil ... ounder.pdf ] (and tens of thousands of its employees) is threatened by a tariff phase-out that will allow cheaper Japanese imports, with higher levels of parts from China and other low-wage countries, into Canada without increasing Canadian auto exports to Japan. The dairy sector is threatened by quota concessions and other provisions that undermine Canada’s supply-managed agricultural system [ http://behindthenumbers.ca/2015/10/06/f ... m-the-tpp/ ] .

The AFB also called for a public consultation on the TPP, which should satisfy the following conditions to be meaningful:

- It must be conducted with the understanding that Canada will change and/or abandon the TPP if it is found unsatisfactory. It cannot be merely a symbolic process.

- It must be completed before Canada proceeds to ratify the TPP. The government cannot advance the implementation process until the consultations have ended.

- It must be empowered to apply the conclusions and recommendations of the review to other existing, pending, and future trade and investment agreements. If, for example, the review determines that the TPP’s ISDS mechanism is problematic, other agreements containing an ISDS mechanism, including NAFTA, should be publicly reviewed.

As part of the debate over whether Canada should ratify the TPP, the CCPA has introduced a new series of reports—What’s the Big Deal: Understanding the Trans-Pacific Partnership [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsr ... artnership ] — to demystify the complicated trade deal and clarify its ramifications.

There are two reports up there now, both on the health impacts of the TPP, but expect more shortly on culture, the environment, the quality of Canadian trade, and the investor–state dispute settlement regime.

You might find these reports helpful in developing comments for the trade committee if you plan on participating in its consultation process.

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Stuart Trew is the editor of The Monitor, the CCPA’s national magazine, and a co-editor (with Teresa Healy) of The Harper Record 2008-2015 [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... -2008-2015 ] . Follow Stuart on Twitter @StuJT.

[Oscar]

HOUSE OF COMMONS STANDING COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE TO HOLD HEARINGS IN VANCOUVER, CALGARY, SASKATOON AND WINNIPEG

[ http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications ... Id=8161270 ]

Standing Committee on International Trade House of Commons

NEWS RELEASE For immediate release

Ottawa, March 21, 2016 - As part of its study on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade will hold hearings in designated Canadian cities in the coming months. The Committee’s primary objective is to assess the extent to which the agreement, once implemented, would be in the best interests of Canadians.

“The TPP has received a lot of attention since Canada joined the negotiations in 2012. On behalf of all Committee members, I invite Canadians to participate in our very important consultation process, and to provide their views on the expected effects of the TPP agreement if it is ratified and enters into force. We are also interested in thoughts about the likely consequences of not ratifying the agreement,” said the Honourable Mark Eyking, P.C., M.P. for Sydney-Victoria and Chair of the House International Trade Committee.

The Committee will be in the following cities on the dates indicated:

• Vancouver, British Columbia: April 18, 2016

• Calgary, Alberta: April 19, 2016

• Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: April 20, 2016

• Winnipeg, Manitoba: April 21, 2016.

Canadians who wish to appear as a witness during these hearings should provide their name and contact information to the Clerk of the Committee at: [ ciit-tpp-ptp@parl.gc.ca ].

An invitation will be extended by the Clerk, on behalf of Committee members, to selected individuals and groups.

Hearings will be open to the public. Information will be provided about additional hearings once dates and locations have been confirmed. - 30 -

For more information, please contact:

Rémi Bourgault, Clerk of the Standing Committee on International Trade
Tel: 613-944-4364
E-mail: CIIT@parl.gc.ca

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Trans-Pacific Partnership consultations held by federal government on P.E.I.

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-ed ... -1.3514520 ]

Protesters rally outside meetings, say deal bad for Canada

By Shane Ross, CBC News Posted: Mar 31, 2016 1:59 PM AT Last Updated: Mar 31, 2016 4:53 PM AT

About a dozen protesters rallied outside a Charlottetown hotel Thursday where discussions about the Trans-Pacific Partnership were being held.

MP David Lametti, the Parliamentary Secretary to the federal Minister of International Trade, is on P.E.I. to hear what Islanders think of the trade deal.

Despite the protests, he said the federal government has heard strong arguments from Maritimers both for and against the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Certain industries are telling us they would be positively affected, for example the seafood industry in the Maritimes saying strongly they are looking at exports particularly to Asia,'' said Lametti.

"We have to try to assess those claims and … put them alongside people also in the Maritimes who say, for example, in the supply-managed industries like dairy, this is going to hurt us."

Lametti said the government realizes opening 3.5 per cent of the Canadian dairy market to foreign competitors will have a negative impact on local farmers.

"If we decide to ratify we'll have to sit down with dairy and poultry and turkey and the other supply-managed industries and look at some form of compensation for a transition," Lametti said.

- - - -SNIP - - - -

'A little bit of hope'

Leo Broderick of the Council of Canadians led the protest outside the Delta Hotel on Thursday.

"It's going to lower standards for the environment, it's going to increase pharmaceutical costs in this country, it's going to increase food insecurity, and certainly it's going to introduce into the Canadian market American milk which is laced with the bovine growth hormone which we banned many years ago," he said.

"Interesting in the United States, the leading candidates for the presidency [Bernie] Sanders, [Hillary] Clinton and [Donald] Trump are all opposed, so that offers a little bit of hope to stop this trade deal. It's a bad deal for Canadians."