MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2001

(OTTAWA) The Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Council of Canadians are joining forces to challenge the constitutionality of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules that allow foreign corporations to sue Canada. The court challenge launched today focuses on the threat posed to Canadian public services by a recent NAFTA lawsuit by U.S. courier giant United Parcel Service (UPS), targeting Canada Post. UPS is suing Canada for $230 million under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, arguing that Canada's publicly funded postal network is being used to support its courier business and is preventing UPS from competing for more of Canada's courier business.

"UPS is using NAFTA to try to grab a bigger piece of the lucrative urban courier market. This could undermine Canada's public mail delivery service," says CUPW Vice-President Deborah Bourque. "If it succeeds, our public post office will be left with less business and less money to provide service, especially in rural areas."

"The UPS challenge is significant because it contends that the very existence of our postal system constitutes unfair competition," says Maude Barlow, Volunteer Chair of the Council of Canadians. "By this logic, every public service from health care to education to the CBC could be threatened by lawsuits costing Canadians billions of dollars -- decided not in public or by Canadian courts but in secret and by a tribunal of international trade lawyers."

"In effect, NAFTA allows foreign corporations to put Canadian policies and laws on trial without giving those affected any participatory rights in the process," says trade lawyer Steven Shrybman. "Under NAFTA, the federal government has delegated the powers of Canada's courts to international tribunals that operate outside the boundaries of Canadian law. We are asking the court for a declaration that Canada ignored important constitutional safeguards in establishing these NAFTA investment rules."

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