McGuinty wants to trim Ontario's "excess of democracy"

New mayor Larry O'Brien wants to add business ethics to city council. Dalton McGuinty simply wants to let businesses rule. The Premier was in British Columbia last month to discuss the B.C.-Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) that was signed exclusively by Premiers Gordon Campbell and Ralph Klein this past April. When I say exclusively, I mean it - there was no public consultation, no political debate, and legislators in both provinces are just now starting to hear about it.

Western municipalities were also kept suspiciously out of the loop, despite the fact that TILMA strips them of considerable authority. Regulations on building heights? Forget about them. They are a barrier to trade and investment. A new pesticide bylaw? Unlikely. The free market has no room for fancy rules designed to protect our health or the environment.

Under TILMA, which goes into effect this April, corporations will have the power to sue local governments for up to $5-million in order to protect their profits. There should be "No Obstacles" to interprovincial or international trade, says the agreement, which "opens" the energy sector, the movement of labour, investment, government procurement, agriculture, transportation and financial services. TILMA is also designed to expand over time to include the regulation of school boards, publicly funded academia, health and social services, and possibly even water management.

"This is one of the most radical trade and investment deals ever signed," said Larry Brown of the National Union of Public and General Employees this week. "This deal effectively erases the border between B.C. and Alberta and makes democratic governance practically irrelevant."

In the more upbeat words of Alberta's gung-ho Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations, Gary Mar, TILMA is "everything Canadian business asked for."

Mainly that's because it gives Canadian businesses the same rights to sue Canadian governments that American and Mexican corporations currently enjoy under NAFTA. News commentary about TILMA has been overwhelmingly positive. The media loves free trade, no matter what the conditions. Few of the news articles and columns about TILMA discussed its implications for cash-strapped cities that will end up spending millions they don't have fighting lawsuits against regulations they thought it their democratic duty to implement!

So what is McGuinty thinking? According to an interview with CanWest last month, his only concern is "whether or not we think that we're strong enough to compete - whether [Ontario] can be seen as an attractive jurisdiction for investment and for workers." Potential opposition to TILMA is brushed aside as "some concerns raised by labour groups."

Ottawa city councillors, if you're out there - Dalton McGuinty wants to severely curtail your authority and he does not care what you think about it. You will not be consulted before he creates a free trade zone with B.C. and Alberta (and probably Saskatchewan and some eastern provinces who are also eager to join). And once he signs TILMA, none of its measures can be "amended or renewed in a manner that would decrease its consistency with this Agreement." There will be briefings, disguised as consultations, but after the fact, and they will be about fitting your new straitjacket, not soliciting your advice.

Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello was on a trade mission to Alberta this week. Her main goal was to offer Ontario's manufacturing sector as a solution to the oil sands labour shortage. Though her office told me she will not be discussing TILMA, Carol Chawrun from Alberta International and Intergovernmental Relations said Gary Mar would love to discuss the agreement should Pupatello ask. There is a good chance she will.

This is an urgent issue. Newly re-elected city councillor Clive Doucet has asked staff to look into the consequences for Ottawa of McGuinty going over everyone's head by signing TILMA. But it will take an Ontario-wide campaign to stop him. The best way to start that campaign is to get your city councillor a copy of the B.C.-Alberta agreement, which is available at www.iir.gov.ab.ca. Alberta and B.C. went into this thing with their eyes closed. Let's not follow them without a fight.