International trade and investment, deep integration
OTTAWA— Twenty years after Canada signed the Free Trade Agreement its biggest boosters have grown wealthier but promises ofbetter jobs and rising living standards fell short, says a study released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The Canada-US Free Trade Agreement was signed on January 2, 1988. The study examines what’s happened since: It takes a sample of 41 Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) member companies – the leading supporter of free trade – and finds they shrank their workforce by 19.6% while their revenues grew by 127%.
The “Big idea” that Canada can generously share its water the same way it now shares energy on a continental scale is generally based on four false assumptions: 1) that Canada has lots of “surplus” water; 2) that Canada has no water problems; 3) that Canada maintains excellent water data; and 4) that Canada can get fabulously rich selling its water.
These myths are debunked below.
Premier
Gordon Campbell has positioned BC as a global leader on climate change.
From handshakes with Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger to an ambitious
plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by one-third by 2020, his
enthusiasm for fighting climate change is laudable.
OTTAWA—Contrary to assurances from Prime Minister Harper, an SPP regulatory agreement signed at Montebello sets Canada on course toward a single North American regime for regulating industrial chemicals that will almost certainly weaken the existing Canadian regulatory system and erode policy autonomy, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
(Vancouver) Footage of Naomi Klein speaking about her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, is now available online at www.youtube.com/policyalternatives or www.policyalternatives.ca/naomi_klein_videos.
Klein appeared at a sold-out CCPA fundraiser in Vancouver in February.
The following is a brief excerpt from her speech:
Canadian activists, who see themselves as stewards of the country´s abundant water resources, have been concerned since NAFTA was signed, fearing that it threatens our water. So it came as no surprise that, when early corporate schemes arose to allow the large-scale export of water from the Great Lakes and Newfoundland’s Lake Gismore, the Council of Canadians and other activist groups mounted campaigns which led provincial governments to ban the export of bulk water.
The term SPP is likely to draw blank stares from most Canadians, though hopefully that will begin to change after the upcoming summit of North American Leaders--George Bush, Felipe Calderon and Stephen Harper--in Montebello Quebec. The North American Security and Prosperity Partnership (that’s what SPP stands for) was launched by the three NAFTA countries in March 2005. This is their third meeting and the first held in Canada.