Citizens left in dark on broad-reaching deal

The Daily Courier (Kelowna)

By Karen Abramsen
January 9, 2007

Do the citizen's of Kelowna know what their government is up to?

What if a provincial government signed an agreement forcing it to make most of its regulations identical to those of another province?

What if this government voluntarily made itself, and every municipality within its borders, open to lawsuits over virtually anything it did that restricted investment?

What if it tied its hands so that, no matter how much a region was suffering economically, it could not provide assistance that might "distort investment decisions."

Well, there are no "what ifs" about it. This past spring, B.C.'s Gordon Campbell and Alberta's Ralph Klein signed an agreement with exactly these sweeping constraints on the ability to govern. It is called the Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA). This agreement comes into effect this April.

Murray Dobbin, Vancouver-based journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for more than 35 years, and a board member and researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is joining with Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians to alert B.C. citizens to the sweeping powers of this agreement.

If the Campbell government was going to erase the border with Alberta, shouldn't it have consulted with our province's citizen's first?

The local chapter of the Council of Canadians is also picking up this challenge, and over the next month we hope to take a resolution to Kelowna city council and the regional district urging them to join in the opposition to this new corporate rights agreement that was signed in secret with no public input.

This agreement is a corporate assault on democracy. A summary of the most alarming elements of this agreement include:

• It is undemocratic as it gives exclusive privileges to business at the expense of every other sector of society;

• It will allow all purchasing decisions by provincial governments, local governments, Crown Corporations, school boards and universities to be challenged and overturned for purchases costing as little as $10,000;

• It massively deregulates to the lowest standards;

• It covers all government "entities" and subjects their policies, regulations and programs to potential challenges by private individuals. They could get up to $5 million in compensation if there is an "impairment or restriction" to investment, trade or labour mobility;

• It goes well beyond NAFTA in enabling commercial interests to sue for regulations they don't like as well.

• Each provincial government, as well as local governments in each province, will be obligated when they are doing anything that might be covered by TILMA to "provide the other Party (B.C. or Alberta) with an opportunity to comment on the measure, and take such comments into consideration."

On the last point, imagine every small- or medium-sized community having to inform all other provinces of their plans for new regulations, wait for them to comment and then give serious consideration to those comments - a nightmare situation in terms of delays and administrative costs.

What can we do?

Kelowna citizens need to demand that this agreement be brought to the public for consultation. We need to let our MLAs know that they cannot sign away our rights without a proper debate.

This agreement was signed in secret and did not even go to the legislature.

We need to contact NDP leaders to urge them to bring this agreement to the legislature and demand a full public debate. This agreement should have gone to the fall sitting of the legislature.
Visit the Council of Canadians website (www.canadians.org) for more information.

We need to be vigilant in stopping TILMA (the Hun) before the massive "pillage and plunder" comes into effect in April.

Karen Abramsen,
Kelowna chapter chairperson, Council of Canadians

READ MORE

• Response from Minister: Minister of Economic Development (Victoria), Colin Hansen, says TILMA offers many benefits. (PDF format)
• Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA)