A 2015 EKOS Research study found most Canadians see books as having strong social benefits in terms of quality of life, social cohesion and economic strength. If we want to tell our own stories and preserve our own history, government investment in publishing is essential. But over the past 10 years, the federal government has put our culture in jeopardy.
International trade and investment, deep integration
The Obama administration is pulling out all the stops to wrap up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations this week. Trade ministers, including Canada’s Ed Fast, have been summoned to Atlanta for what is intended to be a final session.
The participation of Fast will be controversial back in Canada, where a federal election campaign is in full swing. Concluding a sweeping, still secret trade treaty on the brink of election day is unprecedented and arguably illegitimate.
Canadian investors have exploited a controversial mechanism in international investment treaties to challenge public interest regulations in 24 different countries, according to a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
This report documents the 55 known cases of Canadian investors using the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system to sue foreign governments in international trade tribunals. It finds that the ISDS process has overwhelmingly been used by Canadian resource companies to dispute resource management and environmental protection measures in developing countries.
A shakedown is defined as extortion by means of force, threats, or intimidation. That’s a pretty accurate description of what’s now happening in Hawaii to Canadian negotiators at the hands of their U.S. counterparts in charge of the more political than economic Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks.
British Columbia's privacy laws are in the crosshairs of the nearly completed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. If you're wondering what the heck data privacy protections have to do with trade, you're not alone. Public awareness of the far-reaching, 12-country negotiation is scant, with polls showing three-quarters of Canadians have never even heard of the TPP.
The CCPA Monitor presents STATE INVADERS! Can you stop the next wave of trade lawsuits? Fight off real investor–state lawsuits from UPS, Chevron, Scotiabank and Shell in this twist on a classic arcade game, and find out more in the latest issue of the Monitor.
The following is excerpted and adapted from Vaillancourt’s book, L’Empire du libre-échange (The Stranglehold of Free Trade), released by M éditeur in 2014. It has been lightly edited to fill in context provided elsewhere in the book.
Fight off real investor–state lawsuits in the CCPA Monitor game STATE INVADERS.