Canada must rethink its free trade agenda after WTO talks collapse

The collapse of World Trade Organization talks is a wake-up call to Canada and the developed world that the free trade agenda is a failure.

“By now, Canada should know better than anyone that free trade deals are hopelessly lopsided,” says Jean-Yves Lefort, trade campaigner with The Council of Canadians. “Despite NAFTA, Canada was forced to capitulate to the U.S. lumber industry.”

Similarly, compromise was never an option for the U.S. at the so-called Doha development round of WTO negotiations. Without huge market access to Europe and the developing world for America’s biggest corporations, it was obvious there was never going to be a deal.

“The WTO collapse actually represents the best scenario for developing countries, despite what you will hear from trade ministers and WTO officials,” says Lefort. “The negotiations were so far removed from what one would call real development for the world’s poor that they were destined to fail. Developing countries are simply no longer prepared to accept rules set by big business for big business.”

“Canada should develop a trade strategy that improves the quality of life in Canada and around the world, instead of one that promotes the limited interests of the richest multinational corporations,” says Lefort. “A better trade model is needed - now more than ever.”

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For more information:
Stuart Trew, media contact: Tel.: (613) 233-4487, ext. 231; Cell: (613) 292-2218; strew@canadians.org.