Council of Canadians Will Make Presentation Tonight at City Council

Not surprisingly, a growing number of cities and towns are uneasy about and in some cases opposed to CETA.

The Union of British Colombia Municipalities (UBCM) has passed a resolution brought forward by the District of Logan Lake and City of Burnaby, whichrequests:

a briefing from the Province of B.C. on the scope and content of trade negotiations with the European Union;
the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to provide sector-by-sector analysis of the potential impacts on municipal functions and powers of the procurement regime that the European Union is seeking;
the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to urge the government of Canada not to provide the European Union with access to sub national government procurement; and
that the provincial government negotiate a clear, permanent exemption for local governments from CETA.

That last point is crucial if cities and towns are going to preserve the space they need to set local economic and environmental policies without fear of expensive and time-consuming trade challenges from EU-based multinationals.

CETA’s procurement chapter would:

Ban “offsets”, or conditions on local spending that encourage local development;
Ban “Buy Canadian” policies on major transit, energy and construction projects (i.e. exactly where we want to get the most socially beneficial bang for our buck);
Make local food or ethical procurement strategies vulnerable to legal challenges from EU and Canadian multinational companies;
Increase the cost to municipalities of tendering contracts and give EU companies the legal means to delay or overturn decisions that don’t go in their favour, and;
Encourage the privatization of Canada’s public water systems if EU requests to include water utilities and agencies are granted.

The EU and Canadian governments claim this is about openness and fairness when really it is just a recipe for less competition and fewer opportunities for small- and medium-sized businesses.

For more information about how CETA will affect municipalities, see the recent legal opinionby trade and public interest lawyer Steven Shrybman. Also see “Negotiating From Weakness,” a report by Scott Sinclair, a senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, on how unbalanced the Canada-EU trade negotiations are. For the impact CETA will have on public water in Canada, see our fact sheet, “Private water and CETA” (attached) and the report written by The Council of Canadians and CUPE entitled “Public Water for Sale: How Canada will Privatize our Public Water Systems” (all documents are available at www.canadians.org).

The benefits to Canada’s municipalities of signing onto CETA are slim to none. The cost to local economic development and environmental policy options are far too high.

The Council of Canadians encourage you to follow in the footsteps of the Union of British Colombia Municipalities by requesting that municipalities be kept out of CETA. There’s no reason why you can’t pass the very same resolution as follows:

DRAFT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS the government of Canada and the European Union have been negotiating a trade agreement known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (the “CETA”); and

WHEREAS the European Union and European corporations are insisting on full access to procurement by sub-national governments – including municipalities, school boards, universities, hospitals and other provincial agencies – which could significantly reduce or eliminate the right to specify local priorities when public money is invested in goods, services or capital projects; and

WHEREAS Canadian municipalities have expressed growing concerns with trade agreements and their potential impacts on municipal programs and services and local autonomy; and

WHEREAS unfettered access to Canadian municipal procurement by European corporations may encourage privatization and reduce economic development options for local communities; and

WHEREAS the provincial and territorial governments have been actively involved in negotiating CETA with the European Union:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the [NAME OF PROVINCIAL OR TERRITORIAL MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATION] request:

a briefing from the Province of BC on the scope and content of trade negotiations with the European Union;
the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to provide sector-by-sector analysis of the potential impacts on municipal functions and powers of the procurement regime that the European Union is seeking;
the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to urge the government of Canada not to provide the European Union with access to sub national government procurement; and
that the provincial government negotiate a clear, permanent exemption for local governments from CETA.

by Council of Canadians - Prince Albert Chapter

Council of Canadians Will Make Presentation Tonight at City Council

What's Trending