TRADE DEALS UPDATE: Feb. 4, 2016

[Oscar]

TPP would be disastrous for Canada's innovators, Jim Balsillie warns

CBC The Current February 4, 2016

[ http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the- ... -1.3433226 ]

Thursday February 04, 2016

TPP would be disastrous for Canada's innovators, Jim Balsillie warns

Jim Balsillie says future and present innovation in Canada will wither under the weight of the just-signed Trans Pacific Partnership. The former co-CEO of Research in Motion speaks out against a deal he says will see Canadians generating prosperity for others. *Audio posted soon*

"We're in a hole, and signing this agreement makes it even harder to get out, " says Jim Balsillie on TPP. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

more stories from this episode


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Trans-Pacific Partnership hides significant health costs, according to two new studies

[ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsr ... ng-two-new ]

February 2, 2016

OTTAWA – As Canada signs the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand this week, two new studies from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reveal significant risks and high public costs to the Canadian health care system within the text of the agreement.

The TPP would require Canada to extend patent terms to compensate brand-name pharmaceutical firms for regulatory delays in approving drugs. This policy change could add $636 million annually to the cost of drugs in Canada, according to Joel Lexchin in his study, Involuntary Medication: The Possible Effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the Cost and Regulation of Medicine in Canada. [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... medication ]

“Higher drug costs would make pharmacare more costly, and lawsuits from adversely affected drug companies are more likely under TPP’s investor-state dispute settlement mechanism,” says Lexchin, a professor in the School of Health Policy and Management at York University.

The second study, Major Complications: The TPP and Canadian Health Care, [ https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publi ... plications ] by CCPA trade expert Scott Sinclair, finds that the TPP investor protections would make it more difficult and costly for Canadian governments to establish new public health programs, including pharmacare, which is on the agenda of ongoing federal-provincial health talks.

Key findings from both studies include:

The TPP includes many new rights for U.S. and Japanese drug companies to comment on, review and appeal Canadian regulatory decisions, which could adversely affect drug approvals and safety.

Faster regulatory approvals of medicines, which might result from the TPP, have been shown to lead to a higher incidence of safety problems, including warnings and withdrawals.

The TPP’s carve-out for tobacco control measures will not provide meaningful protection for future Canadian plain-packaging rules, since U.S.-based tobacco companies will continue to have access to NAFTA’s investor-state protections.

Other forms of public health regulation, from controls on trans-fats to regulating legalized marijuana, are fully exposed to lawsuits from disgruntled foreign investors. The TPP expands these rights to cover investors from Japan, Malaysia, Australia and other countries.

The TPP financial services chapter actually makes it easier for foreign insurers to challenge the expansion of public health insurance into new areas by allowing investor-state disputes involving a much-abused “minimum standards of treatment” rule.

“While a strong and balanced international trade regime is critical to Canada’s economic success it should not, and need not, come at the expense of our public health system,” says Sinclair.

These two reports are the first in a series of detailed analyses of various aspects of the TPP to be released by CCPA in the coming months as the debate over whether Canada should ratify the deal continues.

Involuntary Medication: The Possible Effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on the Cost and Regulation of Medicine in Canada and Major Complications: The TPP and Canadian Health Care are available on the CCPA website: http://policyalternatives.ca



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TPP protesters shut down central Auckland as ministers sign controversial deal

[ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news ... d=11584458 ]

February 4, 2016

Central Auckland has ground to a halt as trade ministers signed the TTP today. All streets around Sky City Convention Centre and motorway on and off ramps leading to the central business district have been blocked by protesters.

Former Green MP Sue Bradford is in a protest group that has partially blocked access to the Auckland Harbour Bridge from the city.

"We are in a blockade at the corner of Victoria Park and the Harbour Bridge," she said. "Just about all of the Harbour Bridge is blocked off.

"But we'll keep moving. This is our third blockade today."

The NZTA for Auckland and Northland has recommended that people do not travel into the central city if possible.

MORE:

[ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news ... d=11584458 ]


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A message from the Trade Justice Network:

[ http://us10.campaign-archive1.com/?u=09 ... 5d89e24d0f ]

"As you’ve likely heard, federal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland will be joining other Ministers from Trans-Pacific Partnership countries in signing the TPP this Thursday February 4th in Auckland, New Zealand. This does not at all mean the fight against the TPP has concluded…far from it. Indeed, in many ways the public debate over TPP in Canada is really just getting underway. As Freeland herself has noted, it is ratification of the deal which will determine whether Canada is going to participate and that decision is many months, if not years, away."

The Trade Justice Network (the NFU is a member) has joined with Common Frontiers and RQIC to organise a twitter action via ‘thunderclap’ to express our concern about this ceremony. We need to tell Trade Minister Freeland not to sign the TPP! If you have a Twitter account you can join in this common twitter action by clicking on the twitter thunderclap link here: http://thndr.me/buy4M0 The more of us who join now and spread the word to others, the bigger the impact will be on social media.

For more on the agriculture impacts of the TPP and an excellent video about Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) measures, see the NFU's webpage. [ http://www.nfu.ca/issues/trans-pacific-partnership-tpp ]

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The Trans Pacific Partnership – A Corporate Bill of Rights

[ http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinio ... -0006.html ]

Op Ed by Larry Brown February 3, 2016

Governments from around the world are gathering in New Zealand on February 4th to sign the Trans Pacific Partnership, the TPP. People around the world are mobilizing to make sure that the agreement, even if signed, does not get ratified.

Why are so many people working to stop this agreement? It’s just another in a long line of trade deals that are aimed at growing our economies by increasing trade between our countries, right? At least that’s what we’re told.

What we aren’t told by our governments is that these so-called ‘trade deals’ are really not very much about trade at all. They are international corporate constitutions, aimed at limiting the ability of our governments to control transnational corporate behaviour. An international corporate Bill of Rights.

These deals weaken democracy, increase income inequality, endanger our public services, give corporations more rights than the citizenry, further endanger our already stressed environment, and kill jobs.

Here’s an interesting fact: most of the governments that want to sign on to the TPP seem to have no real idea how their country’s economy and social systems will be affected. Freer trade has been an article of faith for decades, but there have been few government studies of the concrete, measurable impacts of all the deals that have been signed, and little forecasting of the effects of signing such a massive new agreement as the TPP.

If a government wants to sign on to the TPP, shouldn’t they first have to prove there is a demonstrable benefit from doing so?

MORE:

[ http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinio ... -0006.html ]


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German judges oppose Investment Court System in trade agreements
[ http://canadians.org/blog/german-judges ... agreements ]
The largest association of judges in Germany (Deutscher Richterbund, DRB) has spoken against the establishment of an investment court system (ICS), stating that “neither is there a legal basis nor the necessity” for it.


Trudeau disagrees with Canadians expressing concerns about the TPP
[ http://canadians.org/blog/trudeau-disag ... -about-tpp ]
While the Trudeau government has stated it has not taken a position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), their responses to the concerns being expressed by people writing to them makes it clear they are defending the controversial deal. That should raise the concern that beyond them signing the deal tomorrow, they also plan to ratify it within the next two years.

CETA changes make investor-state provisions worse
[ http://canadians.org/blog/ceta-changes- ... ions-worse ]
In a recent editorial, the Globe and Mail endorsed proposed changes to the Canada-Europe Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), namely to the investment-state dispute settlement provisions that allow foreign corporations to sue governments over regulatory changes that affect their profits.

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MEDIA RELEASE: TPP casino signing gambles with our future
[ http://canadians.org/media/tpp-casino-s ... our-future ]