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Interprovincial Trade Agreements34 organizations urge provincial, territorial trade ministers to deny Canadian corporations right to sue local governments Provincial, territorial and federal trade ministers meet annually as the Committee on Internal Trade (CIT) to discuss and make changes to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). The AIT is an interprovincial trade treaty that puts limits on subnational government policy in the name of reducing barriers to trade, investment and labour mobility. Until recently, the AIT was non-binding on provincial-territorial governments. But pressure from western Canada and the federal government has led to changes to the agreement's government-to-government dispute process. Provinces and territories can now be fined for not abiding by trade panel decisions. In other words, they can be fined for otherwise acting completely within their constitutional powers to set public policy. Business groups are also lobbying trade ministers to include an investor-to-state dispute process that would allow Canadian firms to sue the provinces and territories directly for what they perceive to be barriers to profits. On December 2, Canadian groups responded in large numbers to this business request by urging trade ministers not to include NAFTA-like investment protections in the AIT (read media release with signatures here »). At their December 3 CIT meeting, trade ministers discussed this demand but could not come to a consensus on whether the AIT needed an investor-to-state dispute process (read more). The next CIT meeting will be in Charlottetown, PEI in June 2011. Saskatchewan joins the TILMA club without public consultation
Following broad public consultations in 2007, the Saskatchewan government decided not to sign TILMA alongside Alberta and B.C. based on public and expert testimonials on how the agreement would unnecessarily reduce policy space for cities, encourage deregulation and the lowering of standards, apply controversial and expensive trade rules on procurement to cities, school boards and hospitals, and make government policy vulnerable to corporate lawsuits that could result in fines as high as $5 million. The Council of Canadians pointed out that TILMA made corporate rights more important in B.C. and Alberta than the constitution. The same now applies in Saskatchewan. Premier Brad Wall and other members of the Saskatchewan Party promised on numerous occasions not to sign TILMA, and pledged to consult with stakeholders and the public before considering anything like it. When news hit at the end of April that the Saskatchewan government was close to a “partnership” agreement with the western provinces, the Council of Canadians and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, along with over 30 groups and individuals who participated in the 2007 TILMA review, sent an open letter to Premier Brad Wall calling on him to keep his promises to not sign any agreement like TILMA, or at least to hold full and transparent public hearings on the issue beforehand. A week after signing the New TILMA Partnership, Premier Wall responded to our letter by claiming he consulted widely, that the agreement was publicly available beforehand and that municipal and Crown corporation policy space was protected. None of this is true. In fact, Wall has broken all his promises and done a huge disservice to all those Saskatchewan residents who fought hard against the unnecessary, excessive and anti-democratic TILMA agreement. To read the joint Council of Canadians/Saskatchewan Federation of Labour press release, “Brad Wall breaks promise, signs TILMA,” click here. To read an analysis of the New West Partnership from Erin Weir, economist with the United Steelworkers union, click here. To read an op-ed by Saskatchewan blogger Joe Kutcha debunking Wall’s claims about municipalities and Crown corporations, click here. INTERPROVINCIAL INVESTOR RIGHTS ARE AN IMPRACTICAL JOKE: 
State of Play: Canada’s Internal Free Trade Agenda (PDF 139kb) Portrait de la situation : Le plan de travail du Canada en matière de libre- Today (March 31, 2009), just one day before the BC/Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) goes into full effect, the Council of Canadians launched a new report by expert trade lawyer Steven Shrybman concluding that TILMA, other similar agreements currently in development, and the recent changes to the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) will only further deregulate provincial policies that protect communities and the environment and threaten public services. The report, titled 'State of Play: Canada’s Internal Free Trade Agenda’ provides an update on TILMA and the state of various trade agreements between Ontario and Quebec (OQEPA), Nova Scotia, New Brunswick (PARE) and Saskatchewan (so-called Economic Partnership with BC and Alberta) and challenges the need for these agreements in the first place. It is being simultaneously released by the Council of Canadians on March 31 at press conferences in Halifax, Moncton, Ottawa, Toronto, Regina, Calgary and Vancouver. The seven press conference included community and labour leaders from each province, each expressing local concerns with the deregulating agenda of the federal government. Read the report here » Joined by CUPE president Paul Moist, expert trade lawyer Steven Shrybman and CUPW Vice President George Floresco, Director of Organizing Carleen Pickard highlighted that, “We’ve been asking the governments where the actual barriers are that they claim exist. TILMA is a barrier to democracy and handing over public policy decisions to corporate interests is more than a bad joke. These kinds of agreements should not be allowed to continue.” Press releases from regional events:
Putting investors first and the public last On April 1, 2007, a new free trade pact went into effect between Alberta and B.C. It's called the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) and it will have a devastating effect on local democracy, public health and the environment. While currently confined to Western Canada, provincial governments in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and the Maritimes have all shown an interest in signing on, or in developing their own regional versions of TILMA. The Harper government has also been pressuring the provinces to sign TILMA, which makes this a fight we have to wage locally, provincially and nationally.
PHOTO: Carleen Pickard, the Council of Canadian's BC regional organizer, along with Council chapter members from Whistler, Nanaimo and local activists who gathered on May 10, 2007 to leaflet the Lower Mainland Local Government Association delegates prior to voting on 4 TILMA resolutions. TILMA was signed by the premiers of Alberta and B.C., without public consultation or legislative debate, in April 2006. The agreement allows corporations and individuals to challenge any provincial or municipal government measure they feel "restricts or impairs" their investment (i.e. their profits). Even measures designed to protect the environment and public health can be brought to an unelected TILMA dispute panel with the authority to impose penalties as high as $5 million. |
FEATURESIn this section:
The “Buy America” Boogeyman VIDEO: The Council fights TILMA in Alberta Municipal Committee Resource Sheet on TILMA and the SPP as major threats to democracy in Canada (PDF), March 2008, by the Canadian Union of Public Employees
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TILMA was not debated by either the Alberta or B.C. legislatures, and municipalities and other local governments weren't even consulted before it was signed. In fact, cities and towns across B.C. and Alberta only learned after the fact how much democratic control they will lose under TILMA, and many are fighting to have municipal government action exempt from the agreement's dangerously broad reach. We know that other provinces have shown an interest in signing TILMA. The 2007 federal budget plugged the agreement by name and that the Conservatives see it as inspiration for a renewed push to harmonize provincial regulations across Canada -- and possibly beyond. And at the last Council of the Federation meeting, Canada's premiers agreed to explore the idea of implementing TILMA's undemocratic dispute resolution process nationally into the Agreement on Internal Trade. Furthermore, some U.S. states have shown an interest in signing TILMA, which would lead to massive deregulation in Canada, as we harmonize policies with the United States. TILMA thus becomes an issue of democracy and of deep integration with the U.S. Opposition to the far-reaching free trade pact continues to grow thanks to effective local action from chapter activists in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. One enormously successful tactic has been to speak with municipal governments directly about the dangers of TILMA. Citizens in Alberta and B.C. have also targeted their MLAs to demand the provincial governments tear up TILMA. Check out any of the resources below for more information about TILMA and how you can fight it locally, provincially and nationaly. Features
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updated
July 18, 2011
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On April 30, 2010, the governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia signed an agreement called the New West Partnership but we might as well call it by its true name: TILMA. The “partnership” is nothing but the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement with a new name and all the same negative consequences for Saskatchewan.
