(OTTAWA) After repeated promises to include "civil society" in future trade consultations, following last fall’s disastrous MAI negotiations, Trade Minister Sergio Marchi and his provincial counterparts are quietly meeting – with leading corporate representatives – to discuss a number of trade initiatives without the input of Canadians, says the Council of Canadians.

The federal and provincial trade ministers are meeting today in Ottawa to discuss a variety of trade issues, including developing a strategy for consultations around Canada’s involvement in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the proposed Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA). Despite Marchi’s earlier assurances that future consultations would be non-biased and include civil society, the only non-government representatives invited to today’s meeting were officials from the Business Council on National Issues, NovaCorp, the Importers-Exporters Association and the Canadian branch of the International Chamber of Commerce.

"The federal government seems incapable of differentiating the public from large corporations and their lobbyists," says Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians. "Is this what Sergio Marchi means when he talks about consulting Canadians on trade and investment issues? Why wasn’t labour invited? Why aren’t aboriginal people invited? Why aren’t environmentalists being consulted? The interests of Canadians and those of corporations are not one and the same."

"If the federal government continually refuses to consult openly with the Canadian public on trade," added Barlow, "its initiatives will certainly meet with the same opposition that surrounded negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment last year."

Last year, the Council of Canadians led an alliance of hundreds of Canadian groups opposed to the Multilateral Agreement on Investment. Protests by similar alliances in other countries contributed to the decision by France to withdraw from negotiations and the eventual collapse of talks.

-30-