About 300 people are gathered on Parliament Hill this afternoon to protest the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
The Council of Canadians, the Seafarers International Union (SIU), Campact, CUPE, CUPW, RQIC and numerous others are here to speak against the Canada-EU summit taking place in Ottawa today to mark the so-called completion of the negotiations for the CETA ‘free trade’ agreement.
This protest follows numerous media reports about the German government calling for the deal to be renegotiated and for the controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision to be removed.
The European Commission has said if the deal were to be reopened at this point that it would be effectively dead.
So while Harper may want to trumpet his ‘accomplishment’ of securing a free trade agreement with Europe, the reality is that governmental and public opposition is only growing and CETA faces an uphill battle to be ratified over the next 2+ years.
The Council of Canadians has been campaigning to derail CETA since 2009 and remains committed to working with allies both in Canada and Europe to defeat this dangerous deal.
