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TRADEWolfville challenges Liberal support for Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
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[05-Feb-10] Harper says Bye to Buy Local The “Buy America” Boogeyman NAFTA’s Chapter 11: A threat to the environment and public policy, Factsheet, October 2009 Open For Business: Privatization, not higher standards, the main goal of Canada-EU free trade talks, Factsheet, October 2009 Say bye to buy local - A primer on trade deals impacting Ontario, October 2009 Link to the WTO Geneva international demonstration webpage. Hundreds of representatives of grassroots movements from all over the world will be in Geneva and then in Copenhagen this November to demand a radical change of direction: Saturday, November 28, 2009, 2p.m., Place Neuve, Geneva. Accord Ontario-Québec sur le commerce et la coopération : un mystère ! ATTAC Québec, 15 septembre 2009 Trade and Cooperation Agreement Between Ontario and Québec, September 11, 2009 A statement on public procurement No Payoff for Premiers in “Buy American” Fix, Canadian Perspectives, Autumn 2009 CBAN Briefing: WTO dispute over Genetically Modified Organisms: Canada, Australia, US vs European Union, July 20, 2009 ACTION ALERT: Hold Senate accountable for hasty passage of Canada-Peru free trade agreement Refusing to Adapt: Civil society statement on the the International Economic Forum of the Americas, a gathering of the world's financial and political elite which met in Montreal June 10 to 12, 2009 to discuss how countries can adapt to the new world order. VIDEO: CPAC's Prime Time Politics covers Maude Barlow speaking in Ottawa to outline hopes for this week's visit to Canada by U.S. President Barack Obama, February 17, 2009 (Starting at approx. 21:30 minutes) How worried are you about U.S. protectionism?, Steven Shrybman on Goldhawk Live, February 8, 2009 Will the US Blockade Newfoundland?, Steven Shrybman, The St. John's Telegram , January 24, 2009 ACTION ALERT: Yes, let's renegotiate or abrogate NAFTA! Obama Reaffirms Promise to Renegotiate NAFTA, Huffington Post, January 12, 2009 Obama and NAFTA, Foreign Policy In Focus, January 9, 2009 Why We Need to Fix NAFTA, Maude Barlow and John Cavanagh, January 1, 2009 Attempt to Convene Another Last-Minute WTO "mini-Ministerial" Collapses In the Midst of Global Recession - Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), Dec 12, 2008 G-20 Summit Call to Finish WTO Doha: Ignorance or Cynicism? - Public Citizen, Nov 15, 2008 Inside the WTO's Collapsed Deal - The Tyee, Aug 4, 2008 Canada Needs to Abandon Failed Model of World Trade Talks, says Maude Barlow - July 30, 2008 Canadians Reject McCain’s NAFTA Plea - Continental Movement for Renegotiation Grows - June 20, 2008, Ottawa Stop the Bush-McCain Agenda, Stop Unfair Trade - June 20, 2008, Ottawa VIDEO: The Council fights TILMA in Alberta Building a Diversified, Value-Added, Productive Economy (PDF) CAW Submission to the Government of Canada’s Competition Policy Review Panel, 2008 Democracy vs. Free Trade: Renegotiate NAFTA? Sounds like a good idea. Maude Barlow, March 5, 2008 NAFTA's legacy: the worst agreement we ever signed, Murray Dobbin, The Globe and Mail, March 5, 2008 Provincial trade barriers? What provincial trade barriers? Globe and Mail, Murray Dobbin, January 11, 2008 Victory! Well, sort of... Council welcomes NAFTA victory while decrying NAFTA rules, Canadian Perspectives, Autumn 2007 Suing over NAFTA (VIDEO) New Chapter 11 affidavit by Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. Court upholds corporate rights under NAFTA - Read the November 30, 2006 decision and analysis. Revisiting NAFTA: Still not working for North America's workers
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On May 6, 2009, at a Canada-EU Summit in Prague, Prime Minister Harper launched negotiations on a new generation trade agreement with the European Union. Canadian companies, including large agriculture and financial firms, are looking for better access to the European market without having to meet different or stricter EU rules. European negotiators, on the other hand, are clearly after Canadian services contracts, including public services, with the aim of transferring the $22-billion our local governments spend annually on public priorities into corporate profits. An agreement with Europe would put pressure on provincial governments to increase privatization, including in areas such as water, transportation, child care and public health care. It's a lose-lose situation for the majority of people on both continents -- which is why we need to stop it before negotiations can conclude in 2011. 
On March 26, 2009, the Harper government introduced legislation (Bill C23) in the House of Commons to implement a Canada-Colombia free trade agreement. This was done despite widespread opposition from labour and human rights groups, as well as the opposition NDP and Bloc Quebecois. They argue against the agreement on the grounds that Colombia has the worst human rights record in the Western Hemisphere. They say the free trade agreement as written can do nothing to change this problem, and might even exacerbate it. 
Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow and Ontario Federation of Labour president-elect Sid Ryan write in the Toronto Star on November 27, 2009 that, "Unknown to most Canadians, our federal and provincial governments have been busy preparing for the next level of unregulated trade and investment agreements, all aimed at one thing: opening up 'subnational procurement,' which was left out of previous trade deals such as NAFTA." 
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