ACTION ALERT: Demand that Day support a "WTO Turnaround"

November 26, 2009

The seventh World Trade Organization ministerial will take place from November 30 to December 2 with an agenda to discuss the international trading system and the “current global economic environment.”

On November 13, Stockwell Day, the Minister of International Trade, wrote in the Globe and Mail that, “I can assure your readers that Canada has been at the forefront of the World Trade Organization’s Doha round talks, advancing Canada’s interests in all areas of the negotiations, including agriculture. ...At the end of this month, I will be attending the WTO ministerial conference to reiterate Canada’s support for a rapid, ambitious and balanced outcome that will help spur global trade in these challenging economic times.”

Council of Canadians vice-chair Leo Broderick and trade campaigner Stuart Trew will be in Geneva to convince the minister not to do this.

They will be participating in counter-ministerial events and raising concerns about the impacts of the WTO agenda. They will be joining with trade unions, farmers, environmentalists and other civil society organizations in Geneva for the ministerial. Many of these groups, including the Council of Canadians, are united through the global Our World Is Not For Sale network (OWINFS).

OWINFS is working to achieve three common goals:

1. De-legitimize the WTO and its neo-liberal model of trade as the solution to the current global crises, especially the financial, economic, food, and climate crises;
2. De-rail the completion of the Doha Round of WTO expansion negotiations on NAMA, agriculture, and services;
3. Roll-back existing WTO commitments that prevent governments from being able to implement national policies to confront the multiple crises.

TAKE ACTION

It’s time to demand a global turnaround now before it’s too late. Please send a letter to International Trade Minister Stockwell Day at days@parl.gc.ca urging him to turnaround the WTO negotiations.

RESOURCES
Click here for extensive background information on the WTO.

---

SEND A LETTER NOW:

Subject
Recipients	days@parl.gc.ca
Compose your letter in the box below.
Minister Day, Ten years ago, Canadians were in Seattle to protest the devastating impact of the WTO's corporate globalization agenda on jobs, wages and the environment. Our voices joined those of dissatisfied developing nation leaders – who were ignored by the representatives of larger developed economies – in the demand to stop to the negotiations. But corporate interests, with a good deal of help from the Canadian government, keep fighting to continue these lopsided international trade talks designed to further deregulate local economies and put unnecessary restrictions on needed government action to protect jobs and the environment. Your government has taken a strong stand in support of supply management – a policy that maintains stable prices for Canadian consumers while ensuring equitable and stable incomes for our farmers, with minimal effects on global trade – and I congratulate you for this. But on environmental protection and support for local economies, Canada clearly lags behind more progressive countries that understand that real action requires the political will to change our priorities. Unrestrained trade flows got us into several crises – climate, financial, food – and won’t get us out of them. On the environment in particular, we need you to Change Trade, Not the Climate. We need a “WTO Turnaround” – not more of the same failed policies. On the basis of past experiences with harmful WTO policies during the food, financial, and economic crises, as well as current projections for minimal economic “gains” but large “costs” from a potential WTO Doha Round, WTO expansion is not in the interests of the vast majority of the world, and that includes Canada. Again, I urge the Canadian government to take a leadership role in Geneva by turning the Doha Round around, reconsidering the primacy of trade over all other societal interests, rolling back existing WTO commitments that prevent governments from being able to implement national policies to confront the multiple crises, and recommitting Canada to real and binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. I look forward to your response. Sincerely,
Name
Email address
Address: City/town Province/territory Postal code
Stay informed:	(Check this box to receive the Council of Canadians e-Newsletter)
Anti-Spam Test: In order to combat increasing spam rates, we've added a visual check our Action Alert forms. Please enter the words to the right in the text box provided. If you have trouble reading the words, you can refresh ( ) or choose to hear an audio challenge ( ) instead.
	* Please note that we've been experiencing a high volume of email submissions. When you press "Send letter", you should land on our "thank you" page. Even if you don't see the "thank you" message, your email will still be sent as soon as the server is free, and you may close the window. If you have any questions, or would like verification that your email was submitted successfully, please email webmaster@canadians.org.