Maude Barlow: “These free trade deals have imposed “structural adjustment” on Canada of the kind the IMF and the World Bank have imposed on many Third World countries in exchange for debt relief. Brian Mulroney called them a “cold shower” and promised that they would change Canada forever.”

Brian Mulroney, 2001: “The national income per capita – which in relative terms is in steady decline, now more than 35 % lower than the United States. Within 10 years, if the present trends continue, our per capita income will be 50 % that of the U.S.”

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives: “Whereas in 1989, 87 % of the unemployed in Canada qualified for UI benefits, (as compared to 52 % in the U.S.) by 2001, only 39 % of jobless Canadians could qualify for coverage.”

The National Farmers Union: “Since 1988, agricultural exports have almost tripled, but net farm income (adjusted for inflation) has fallen by 24 %.”

The Economist, Jan 3rd, 2004: “NAFTA’s champions…oversold their case. It was never plausible, for instance, to expect NAFTA would be a net creator of jobs”

World Bank Report on NAFTA: “The main lesson [of NAFTA] is that a free trade agreement is not a substitute for a development strategy.”

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Real wages in Mexico are lower today than when NAFTA was approved and have not kept pace with productivity gains.”

Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics: “The flow of undocumented workers to the United States has ballooned from an estimated 200,000 a year in 1994 to more than 300,00 a year today.”

Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz: “Growth in Mexico over the past 10 years has been a bleak 1 percent on a per capita basis. From 1948 to 1973, Mexico grew at an average annual rate of 3.2 percent per capita.”

Forbes magazine: “The nation’s [United States] largest employer is now Wal-Mart which pays its employees an average wage of $ 7.50/ hour.