| HOME | ABOUT US | CAMPAIGNS | MEDIA | PUBLICATIONS | CHAPTERS | JOIN US | FRANÇAIS |
|
Letter to Minister of International Trade Re: CETAFebruary 23, 2010 The Honourable Peter Van Loan Dear Minister Van Loan, Re: Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement We the undersigned organizations, representing a broad cross-section of Canadian civil society, are writing to express our concerns with the level of government consultation and the absence of public debate thus far on the proposed Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). First, we would like to impress upon your department and the government that we consider the civil society briefings provided by Canada’s chief negotiator, Steve Verheul, following each of the first two rounds of Canada-EU trade negotiations to be just that – briefings. These hour-long sessions do not represent in any way a public consultation, which is long overdue for the CETA agreement. Second, we do not feel that the online consultations offered last year by your department are sufficient. There have been no preliminary, independent studies or any broad civil society debate and consultation to assess the impact of a potential cross-Atlantic free trade agreement on public policy and public services, the economy, poverty, gender, culture, human rights and the environment. Finally, we note that in past trade negotiations, the public has been kept largely uninformed and unengaged until a full agreement was reached and we were presented with a final text. In the same spirit, we question why the Canada-U.S. Agreement on Government Procurement was only made public last week on the same day it went into effect. We respecfully submit that such a process should be unacceptable to a government that campaigned on a promise of transparency and accountability. In the case of CETA, which is more ambitious than past free trade agreements, and with greater potential impacts on federal, provincial and municipal government powers, public services, public We look forward to your response and your suggestions on how to proceed from now on with this important negotiation. Please RSVP to Stuart Trew, trade campaigner, Council of Canadians: strew@canadians.org. Letter endorsed by: Association Québécoise pour la Taxation des Transactions Financières et pour l’Action Citoyenne (ATTAC Québéc)Canadian Auto Workers union Canadian Conference of the Arts Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union Canadian Federation of Students Canadian Health Coalition Canadian Union of Postal Workers Canadian Union of Public Employees Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario Common Frontiers Council of Canadians Ligue des droits et libertés National Union of Public and General Employees Northern Territories Federation of Labour Nova Scotia Citizens’ Health Coalition Nova Scotia Federation of Labour Polaris Institute Public Service Alliance of Canada Sierra Club Canada United Steelworkers CC: The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs |
|
||||
 |
||||||
