ACTION ALERT
Don’t Gamble With Municipalities: Take cities, towns and school boards out of CETA

Local communities should be governed in the public interest not the corporate interest. Municipal action supporting local jobs, small businesses and sustainable development is crucial, especially in tough economic times. Yet Canadian municipalities are rapidly losing their ability to build local economies and set sustainable policies. The federal government is pursuing international trade deals that target municipal powers and services, without giving a real say to local governments.

For example, the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement could:

• Prohibit municipalities from applying buy local or buy Canadian preferences to contracts, or requiring that bidders use some proportion of local or Canadian goods, services or labour. This would end the ability of municipalities to use procurement as a local economic or social development tool.

• Prohibit municipalities from deciding who and where they get things from. For example, municipalities would not be able to create or support a market for innovative goods and services, including green technologies, if the effect would favour Canadian producers or attract investment to Canada.

• Prohibit municipalities from prioritizing purchases that support sustainability such as buy local food policies like the one Toronto passed to reduce emissions from food miles.

As long as municipal governments are part of the CETA deal, these prohibitions will apply to local purchases.

On July 14, 2011, during an 8th round of Canada-EU free trade negotiations in Brussels, provincial and territorial governments made what they called a highly "ambitious" procurement offer to the EU which likely includes municipal governments. They did this even as many municipal councils are calling for more information and to be excluded from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) entirely.

What can we do?

A growing number of municipalities, school boards and municipal associations have raised concerns about CETA’s procurement chapter. Most of them want to see the municipal sector excluded entirely from the deal. In total, more than 30 cities, towns, school boards and municipal associations in eight provinces have passed resolutions on CETA.

Responding to this pressure, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has issued a set of conditions it feels must be met in CETA’s procurement chapter. These include reasonable procurement thresholds, protection for strategic sectors such as transit or energy, and “progressive enforcement,” meaning cities would get a verbal warning before financial penalties are imposed in the event a public tender is found to have violated the agreement.

These FCM principles do not address the fundamental question of why our cities, towns, school boards and hospitals would want to give up the right to buy locally where it makes sense. Already local procurement policies are fair and open. Already European firms bid on and win many Canadian contracts. The only thing CETA will do is prohibit towns and cities from ever again considering local benefits when making purchases.

CETA is all risk and no reward for municipal governments. We need to convince more municipalities to seek an exemption for local governments from the agreement.

Passed resolution in city/town Passed resolution by school board or association Proposed resolution Seeking exemption   View the larger MAP: Take Cities out of CETA and read resolution details. Please help us keep the map up-to-date by sending us your local resolutions at inquiries@canadians.org.

Tools to help your campaign:

1. A sample presentation, prepared by the Northumberland, Ontario chapter of the Council of Canadians, which you can tailor and present to your local council or committee handling economic development issues. You can also reference Trade Campaigner Stuart Trew’s presentation to Hamilton city council from September 2011. Booking a date to present at your local council is as easy as arranging a dental appointment. If you need some help, simply call your local councillor's office for advice on which committee to approach. (Right-click to save this link for a Rich Text Format for editing.)

2. A list of documents you can print off and distribute to councillors prior to or on the day of your presentation to council. These include:

• Municipalities, Progressive Purchasing Policies and the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA),a briefing note from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Municipalities and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, a Trade and Economic Policy update from the Centre for Civic Governance (attached)
• A legal opinion of CETA's procurement chapter by trade lawyer Steven Shrybman
• Making Waves out of Ripples, a defense of local preferences on government procurement by Brendan Reimer, Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet)

3. A draft resolution, which is a revised version of the resolution passed by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities and other municipalities in Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia.

If you'd like more information about CETA, see our website, or else contact your nearest Council of Canadians regional organizer. Make sure to let us know when your community passes a CETA resolution. You can also publicize the resolutions by sending a notice or letter to local media, or writing a press release.

With provincial elections approaching in several provinces, this is an important opportunity to be putting CETA and procurement on the public agenda. We need a strong national debate on CETA before the provinces and federal governments can take the deal any further. Municipalities are fundamental to that debate.

DRAFT CETA RESOLUTION WHEREAS the Canadian government is close to concluding negotiations with the European Union (EU) on a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), with participation from provinces and territories; and WHEREAS (the Municipality) recognizes the importance of trade to local, provincial/territorial and national economies but also the impact that trade agreements can have on the powers of local governments; and WHEREAS in the CETA, Canada has exchanged an initial procurement offer with the EU (listing sub-federal entities that will be bound by the rules of the procurement chapter) that may include (the Municipality) and that would explicitly tie the (the Municipality) to the terms and conditions of an international trade agreement; and WHEREAS the EU is insisting on full access to procurement by municipalities, school boards, universities, hospitals, utilities and other provincial agencies, which could significantly reduce the freedom of these bodies to hire or source locally on public contracts, or to use public spending as a tool for economic development, environmental protection and support for local farmers and small businesses; and WHEREAS procurement rules in the CETA combined with investment protections related to transit, water, electricity and other public services delivered locally may lock in privatization and make it prohibitively expensive to apply new regulations, to re-municipalize services, or create new municipal programs; and WHEREAS (the Municipality) already has an open and fair procurement policy, and that it is not the international norm for municipal governments to be covered by procurement agreements such as the one proposed in the CETA; and WHEREAS disputes by private firms against local policy decisions could be taken before private trade tribunals that lack transparency and have the authority to impose fines; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Council requests: that (the Province/Territory) issue a clear, permanent exemption for (the Municipality) from the Canada-EU CETA, and that it otherwise protect the powers of municipalities, hospitals, school boards, utilities, universities and other sub-federal agencies to use public procurement, services and investment as tools to create local jobs, protect the environment, and support local development; and that the (Province/Territory) disclose its initial procurement, services and investment offers to the EU, explain the impacts CETA would have on municipal governance, and give M.U.S.H sector entities the freedom to decide whether or not they will be bound by the procurement, investment and regulatory rules in the agreement; and that this resolution be sent to the (Provincial/Territorial) Municipal Association and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the (Provincial/Territorial) Hospital Association, the (Provincial/Territorial) University Association and the (Provincial/Territorial) School Board Association and any other relevant bodies for consideration and circulation. Download the draft resolution in PDF here or right-click to save this link for a Rich Text Format for editing.

For more information about CETA, visit www.canadians.org/CETA.