https://socialistaction.org/2016/12/22/canada-eu-trade-pact-still-not-a-done-deal/
Canada-EU trade pact still not a done deal
/ 49 mins ago
BELGIUM-EU-CANADA-POLITICS-CETA-TRADE
By Y. FIKRET KAYALI
The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement,
barely rescued from the grave, may yet prove to be one of the
walking-dead. The signature of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and those
of his European counterparts on the document are, at this point, merely
ceremonial. Before implementation, ratification votes must be held in
Ottawa and in 28 parliaments across the old continent.
The regional assembly in Wallonia allowed the Belgian PM to sign on
because the legality of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism,
which permits firms to sue governments over regulations that allegedly
affect profits, will first be tested in court.
Canada’s trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, frustrated with the Belgian
regional parliament that had been blocking the deal, was on the verge of
tears as she said, “Canada is disappointed. I am personally very
disappointed. I have worked very, very hard. We have decided to go home.
I am truly very, very sad,” the Guardian reported. The head of the
European Parliament, however, held emergency talks in a bid to save the
deal.
In sharp contrast to Chrystia Freeland, socialists in Canada join
millions of people who celebrated the temporary setback to CETA. We
restate our commitment to oppose CETA and similar undemocratic, pro-big
business, anti-labour so-called free trade agreements.
Initiated in the Stephen Harper years, and endorsed by Justin Trudeau’s
Liberal government, CETA has been seven years in the making. It stumbled
when the legislative assembly of Wallonia, a French-speaking region with
a population of 3.5 million, blocked the government in Brussels from
signing the deal. Wallonia’s vocal and powerful farmers have been
central to the region’s objections to the investment protection
provisions of the treaty. The deal cannot be ratified without European
Union unanimity.
There is deep, widespread opposition to CETA, including by European
labour unions, environmentalists and human rights groups. On September
17, 320,000 people marched against CETA and TTIP in Germany. The
governments of Romania and Bulgaria have said that they will vote
against CETA if Canada doesn’t change its visa requirements. Citizens in
Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and Austria have also expressed
grave concerns. In Canada, many social justice organizations, such as
the Council of Canadians, have been organizing campaigns against CETA.
In June, dairy farmers from Ontario and Quebec drove to Parliament Hill
with their tractors to raise concerns about lost income and the slow
erosion of supply management, under the proposed deal.
CETA is much more than a trade agreement. It is an arrangement to
introduce a variety of capital-friendly changes in areas as diverse as
intellectual property rights, government procurement, food safety and
environmental protection, financial regulation, the temporary movement
of workers, and public services. It stipulates strong and fully
enforceable protections for investors against sovereign governments and
their citizens.
CETA would have grave consequences for the Canadian economy and workers.
In the first academic study on CETA, economists Pierre Kohler and
Servaas Storm show that Canada would lose 23,000 jobs between now and
2023. Using the credible methodology of the United Nations Global Policy
Model, this study depicts the flows of non-scientific reports
commissioned by the EU and the Canadian government. It shows that: (1)
tax income will decrease by 0.12 per cent of GDP, as countries would
reduce corporate taxes to compete for investment. (2) Workers will lose
$2,656 per person over seven years. (3) Canada’s GDP would fall 0.12 per
cent. Economist Jim Stanford finds that the trade deal would make
Canada’s current trade imbalance with the EU incrementally worse.
According to Stanford, “the growing bilateral deficit and resulting
decline in net demand for Canadian-made automotive products arising from
this widening bilateral deficit will negatively affect Canadian
production, investment, and employment opportunities.” And, under CETA,
drug costs to Canadians are estimated to increase by between $850
million and $1.6 billion annually.
CETA is very undemocratic. Public consultation about the deal was very
limited and the text of the agreement was released late, which severely
limited public debate. The deal is also undemocratic due to its
pro-corporate regulations about government procurement policies.
Currently, Canada’s existing commitments covering provincial and local
government purchasing under international trade treaties are quite
limited. But CETA promises corporations, in the words of Canadian Centre
of Policy Alternatives’ Scott Sinclair, “unconditional access to
government procurement, particularly at the sub-national level… The
proposed restrictions on government purchasing would eliminate the
flexibility for governments to use their purchasing power to enhance
local benefits, even when contracts are competed openly and do not
discriminate on the basis of the nationality of the suppliers.”
A corporate power grab, CETA can be defeated. Defeating CETA should be
followed by sending other pro-corporate “free” trade agreements such as
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Foreign Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement (FIPA) with China, and North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) into the trash bin of history. Unions, and the NDP
(which has been rather quiet on CETA) should take the lead in this effort.
Photo: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (L) talks with EU Council
President Donald Tusk during the signing ceremony of the Comprehensive
Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), at the European Council in
Brussels, on October 30, 2016. FRANCOIS LENOIR/AFP/Getty Images
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December 22, 2016 in Canada, Economy, Europe.
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