Too many unanswered questions

Carleen Pickard
Chronicle Herald
May 20, 2010

MPs are in their home ridings this week to catch up with constituents on local news and report on their activities in Ottawa. Will Scott Brison tell the Kings-Hants voters of his impolite behaviour last week, on May 13, at the Committee on International Trade? The CIT is currently considering the much contested Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA) and is hearing from expert witnesses, invited by the committee to present evidence pertaining to the amendment Mr. Brison proposed in Parliament on March 24.

The Globe and Mail, on March 26, reported that last August, Mr. Brison visited Colombia and after a steak dinner and a night of dancing, he and Colombian Trade Minister Luis Plata came up with the proposed amendment, which is supposed to quell concerns regarding human rights in that country. The only official reference to this amendment exists in the exchange between the Canadian trade minister and Mr. Brison on March 24 in Parliament. A Liberal party release states: "Under this agreement, each country must provide annual reports to their Parliaments assessing the impact of the free trade agreement on human rights."

I was one of the two witnesses on the last day of CIT hearings before the recess, along with Barbara Wood of CoDevelopment Canada, a B.C.-based non-profit that works for social change and global education in the Americas. Ms. Wood gave testimony based on her 25 years of experience in Latin America, from first-hand accounts of work in Colombia and current reports from CoDev’s partner organizations.

After she testified, Mr. Brison suggested Ms. Wood should have had more knowledge about the reporting mechanism in the proposed amendment. The official transcript records his comment: "If in fact you were willing to provide half-truths to support your ideological argument on something so easily determined simply with a phone call to my office, then I wonder whether much of what you provided to our committee is based on rigid ideological aversion to trade and how much of it is actually based on well-researched fact."

A phone call to Mr. Brison’s office in Ottawa this week reveals the text for the amendment does not exist; his legislative assistant confirmed it is still being drafted.

In 2008, the committee recommended the government undertake an independent, human rights impact assessment before ratification of the CCFTA. This has not happened, despite the fact that witnesses support this.

The committee’s reluctance to follow through on its very own recommendation is baffling and leaves many unanswered questions, and now the committee is discussing an unwritten amendment? Forget the steak, Mr. Brison: What is really at stake?

Carleen Pickard is the Director of Organizing, Council of Canadians