CETA: Trading Away Democracy!!!

[Oscar]

Trading Away Democracy report calls for CETA's investor-state rules to be rejected

[ http://www.canadians.org/blog/trading-a ... e-rejected ]

November 19, 2014 - 9:56am

The Council of Canadians has been working with numerous organizations in Canada, Quebec and Europe on a 20-page report released today titled Trading Away Democracy: How CETA's Investor Protection Rules Threaten the Public Good in Canada and the EU. [ http://www.canadians.org/trading-away ]

Trading Away DemocracyOur trade campaigner Scott Harris edited the paper co-authored by Pia Eberhardt of Corporate Europe Observatory, Blair Redlin of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Cecile Toubeau of the European NGO Transport & Environment. Our other partner organizations in this project include the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Vienna Chamber of Labour, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, the Trade Justice Network, Friends of the Earth Europe and RQIC (the Quebec Network on Continental Integration).

The key findings of the paper are:

1. Canada’s experience with the North American Free Trade Agreement illustrates the dangers of investment arbitration
2. CETA’s investor protections would arguably grant even greater rights to foreign investors than NAFTA, increasing the risk that foreign investors will use CETA to constrain future government policy
3. The risks to Canada of being sued by banks, insurers and holding companies will increase significantly with CETA
4. CETA would increase the risk to the EU and its member states of challenges by Canadian investors in the mining and oil and gas extraction sectors
5. Canadian subsidiaries of US-headquartered multi-nationals will also be able to use CETA to sue European governments
6. EU, Canadian and US companies are already among the most frequent users of investment arbitration
7. Opposition to investor-state provisions in CETA is growing on both sides of the Atlantic
8. The “reforms” that the European Commission and the Canadian government have promised to dispel concerns about ISDS will not prevent abuse by investors and arbitrators

Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow says, “CETA’s investor-state rules are a symptom of a much bigger problem: the entire deal favours corporations over citizens. Whether it’s through extended patent protection for prescription drugs that could increase drug costs by up to $1 billion, or prying open the lucrative municipal procurement market for European multinationals, this deal is about boosting corporate profits, with no public benefits.”

Trading Away Democracy calls for legislators on both sides of the Atlantic to reject any CETA text that includes private investor-state arbitration.

The full report can be read in English, French and German, with executive summaries also available in Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish and Estonian.

To read the paper, please click here.
[ http://www.canadians.org/trading-away ]

For more on the Council of Canadians campaign against CETA, click here.
[ http://canadians.org/ceta ]

Brent Patterson's blog
http://www.canadians.org/blogs/brent-patterson ]

Brent Patterson
Political Director of the Council of Canadians

[Oscar]

MAY: Letter re: I demand a real debate on CETA

-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Friday, December 5, 2014 1:30 PM
From: tybach@sasktel.net
Subject: RE: I demand a real debate on CETA

Dear Ms. Hughes,

Thank you for writing to me about the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). On September 26th in Ottawa, the agreement was signed by Canadian and EU leaders. However, CETA still needs to be approved by European Council and the European Parliament.

There are concerns from various European governments over CETA. Thus, we are still in negotiations. I disagree with this trade agreement, especially without further debate in the House of Commons. Treaties between countries, through royal prerogative, happen outside of our democratically elected system and inside closed doors.

The full text of CETA is now released and can be found here:
[ http://www.international.gc.ca/trade-ag ... c-tdm.aspx ].

I wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barroso on CETA, which was co-written with Reinhard Butikofer and Monica Frassoni, Co-Chairs of the European Green Party as well as Bruce Hyer, Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada: [ http://elizabethmaymp.ca/letter-on-ceta ]

You can also follow this link for a video highlighting the undemocratic negotiations and effects that CETA will have on Canada and the EU.

This agreement, if ratified, will negatively affect Canadian dairy farmers and producers, increase profits to Big Pharma while raising the price Canadians will pay for medications. CETA will restrict the ability of municipal governments to procure local products by allowing European companies to bid on municipal government contracts.

Furthermore, CETA will interfere with Canadian sovereignty and democracy, by allowing foreign corporations to sue Canada and challenge democratically-passed Canadian laws that impede their profits as part of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism that is a central part of the deal. It diminishes the power of local governments to regulate the environmental impact of industries by allowing foreign corporations to sue the Canadian government over the loss of their expected profit. Investor-state agreements are relatively new types of treaties. I have outlined what they are and highlighted some problems in this publication: [ http://elizabethmaymp.ca/investor-state-treaties ].

The Green Party believes that any fair and responsible trade deal with Europe must include open and transparent discussions with not only business leaders, but also with civil society. As such, we will continue to speak on behalf of Canadians in the negotiations for CETA to gain a trade deal that respects and protects Canadian jobs, sovereignty, and access to health care.

I have attached a petition calling on the Government of Canada to decline to ratify the CETA. You can sign and mail it back to me postage-free so that I can table it in the House of Commons.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me. I encourage you to continue to speak out about this trade deal and other similar trade deals.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth May, O.C., M.P.
Saanich-Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada

- - - - -

-----Original Message-----
From: tybach@sasktel.net [mailto:tybach@sasktel.net]
Sent: December 5, 2014 12:33 PM
To: May, Elizabeth - M.P.
Subject: I demand a real debate on CETA

Dear Prime Minister and Premier,

For more than five years, the Canadian public has been kept in the dark about what is in the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). For the first time since negotiations started, Canadians have finally been allowed to see the text, but now we’re told that the text is final and that no changes are possible.

I am deeply frustrated at the secretive way in which CETA negotiations have been conducted, and I'm angry that Canadians weren't allowed to see the official text or have a chance to comment on the agreement before negotiations were finished.

Now that the text is public, I call on you to immediately begin a broad and meaningful process of public consultations at the federal and provincial levels.

Since Canadians were given no opportunity to have a say in what CETA contains, we now deserve to have a real say in whether or not to accept an agreement that was negotiated behind our backs.

I await your reply.

Sincerely,

Elaine Hughes
ARCHERWILL, SK

[Oscar]

Motion to Urge Government to Remove Investor and State Arbitration Measures from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

[ http://liberalsenateforum.ca/hansard/mo ... agreement/ ]

Published on 26 March 2015 Hansard and Statements by Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette

Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette:

Honourable senators, on this beautiful Thursday afternoon, I would like to talk to you about the free trade agreement signed with Europe and, of course, share some of the serious reservations I have about certain sections. Given that most of the documentation I had on this was in English, you will understand why I would like to share my thoughts in English.

In October 2013, Prime Minister Harper announced to great fanfare a free trade agreement with Europe without the actual text. The Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement, CETA, did not appear in writing for another year.

During that time, the government bragged about jobs and growth, yet it denied Parliament the opportunity to check those claims. When the final text was released, it became obvious that this was done to build up uninformed support for CETA.

Contained within the investment rules, Chapter 10, Investment, and Chapter 33, Dispute Resolution, is an investor-state dispute settlement arbitration system referred to hereafter as investor-state arbitration. This system will enable foreign companies to bypass our courts and resolve their issues behind closed doors in non-transparent tribunals rigged in favour of large corporations.

Honourable senators, the Harper government is signing away Parliament’s authority to regulate and conduct policy on behalf of the Canadian people. The investor-state arbitration mechanism has caused a major public outcry to the tune of 900,000 signatures on a petition protesting the Canada-EU agreement. An open consultation held by the European Commission received 150,000 responses.

MORE:

[ http://liberalsenateforum.ca/hansard/mo ... agreement/ ]