KURTENBACH: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

[Oscar]

The Trans-Pacific Partnership

June 4, 2016

To the Editor,

The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] is being sold as a "free" trade deal. The "free" does not necessarily mean that it is free or fair for all stakeholders.

The TPP involves Canada, the USA, Mexico and nine other countries around the Pacific. For years, the Harper Conservatives secretly negotiated this deal which is now apparently being supported by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He has stated that he will listen to Canadians who wish to make comments about the TPP - - but that opportunity will end by June 30th. 2016.

Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz, is warning Canadians that the TPP "is the worst trade deal ever." Social justice icon, Stephen Lewis, made this statement, "no government of Canada in this day and age should embrace the discordant siren song of free trade". Jim Balsillie, one of Canada's most successful entrepreneurs of Blackberry fame, has stated that the TPP would be "the worst thing in policy that Canada has ever done."

Canada already is one of the most sued developed country in the world. In Quebec, a moratorium has been placed against Lone Pine Resources for fracking operations in that province. That company now intends to sue Canada for $250 million for lost profits! Due to our environmental protection programs, which are allegedly interfering the profit-making of foreign corporations, Canada is now also facing $ 2.6 billion in corporate challenges

Presently, Canada pays the second highest drug prices in the world; Canadians involved in TPP negotiations should be aware of the astronomical profits made by some powerful American pharmaceutical corporations. Other concerns regarding the adoption of the TPP include the reality that it would extend drug patents for pharmaceutical corporations and oppose the use of generic drugs. Canadians would probably not be allowed to set up their own universal pharmacare program.

Regarding food safety, the TPP would allow milk and dairy products from U.S. cows injected with the bovine growth hormone, a chemical which is linked to animal and human risks, to be sold on Canadian grocery shelves. You may recall that in the 1990s, the Council of Canadians blocked this hormone from being used in Canada.

Certainly, all Canadians are supportive of fair trade. However, we do not need to become involved in "free" trade deals that are designed for Canadians by global corporations.

Leo Kurtenbach
Saskatoon, SK
Phone: 306-652-5129