Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew is scheduled to table his negotiating position on the talks today. But, says the Council's position paper on the WTO, unless some minimum citizen demands are met, that position is certain to favour exclusively the interests of large foreign multinationals over public health care and education as well as Canadian culture and the environment. The paper singles out 10 areas over which the federal government needs to stake out much stronger claim than it has, including food security, food safety, public education, culture, water, labour standards, human rights, forestry conservation, and local development.

Unlike any other global institution, the WTO has both the legislative and judicial authority to challenge laws, policies, and programs of countries that do not conform to WTO rules and strike them down if they are seen to be too "trade restrictive." Cases are decided - in secret - by a panel of three trade bureaucrats. Once a WTO ruling is made, world-wide conformity is required; a country is obligated to harmonize its laws or face the prospect of perpetual trade sanctions or fines.

"That power combined with a negotiating strategy that favours the interests of business over labour standards, culture, the environment, education and even public health care is a betrayal of the public trust," says Council Chair Maude Barlow. "We should demand the same democratic checks and balances of international trade and investment agreements that we do of our own governments. The government may talk tough on issues of culture and foreign investment, but other parts of their negotiating position could render such talk irrelevant."

The Council of Canadians and civil society groups from around the world are calling on WTO member governments to stop further negotiations, evaluate the impact that the WTO has had so far, and reassess the utility of the WTO before proceeding with future negotiations.

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