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MEDIA RELEASE Citizens challenge government’s push for more corporate trade agreements OTTAWA, ONTARIO – On the day that the federal government released its plans to spend $24 million dollars (millions of it destined to “private sector partners”) on convincing small Latin American countries to support new trade deals, the Council of Canadians is kicking off its campaign against the FTAA and WTO agreements by launching a damning report and undertaking a speaking tour across the country. “Why does the Canadian government think it has the mandate to push corporate trade agreements on smaller economies and on Canadian citizens?” asks Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of Canada’s largest citizens’ organization. “We are coming up to the 10th anniversary of the Liberals’ Red Book promise to renegotiate NAFTA, and here they are giving Canadian tax dollars to their corporate buddies to convince other governments to make the same mistakes as Canada.” The “Making the Links: A Citizen’s Guide to the WTO and the FTAA” report, co-written by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke, Council Vice-Chair and Director of the Polaris Institute, addresses the fundamental flaws and threats of these international agreements. The report, available now in English and French, will also be translated into Spanish and Portuguese and used throughout Latin America. The report launch will be followed by a 13-city tour where Ms. Barlow and Mr. Clarke will be addressing Canadians about the trade agreements currently under negotiation, which will have serious repercussions on our national sovereignty and limit our ability to enact legislation and regulations that are in the public interest. “Trade agreements are complex and technical” concedes Barlow. “However, it is crucial that we know about them and the consequences they hold for all Canadians. Both the WTO negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the FTAA are scheduled to be completed and signed by the end of 2004, which means that now is the time for action.” But the negotiations are running into stiff opposition from citizens and governments around the world. The Canadian government and the big business community are seeking a major liberalization of services, agriculture and intellectual property rights, as well as bold new initiatives on investment, competition and government procurement. The September 10th – 14th WTO (Cancun) and November 20th– 21st FTAA (Miami) ministerial meetings will be crucial in determining the fate of these agreements. “A few years ago we fought the MAI, which would have set up nothing less than an international charter of rights for the multinationals at the expense of democratic societies,” adds Tony Clarke. “We won that fight, but now the WTO intends to launch a new round of negotiations on an investment agreement and the FTAA is set to extend investors rights to sue governments. We have to win this fight too.” “Trade in itself is not a bad thing. However, through both the WTO and the FTAA, the Canadian government is aggressively pushing a model of corporate globalization to a point where democracy itself is threatened. Citizens of this country have not given this mandate to the federal government nor the mandate to shove it down the throat of other countries,” concludes Clarke. TOUR SCHEDULE June 9 - Sechelt, BC with Maude Barlow -30- Click here to read the Making the Links report. |
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