The Council of Canadians Hamilton chapter hosted trade campaigner Sujata Dey at their monthly meeting on April 25.
Chapter activist Kathie Clark tells us, “The title of her presentation was Do You Hear The People Sing: Opposition to trade deals everywhere. She spoke to us from her home in Montreal via Skype. Her PowerPoint presentation was awesome. The members very much appreciated the update Sujata presented on the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).”
Dey highlighted key dates in the coming months:
While the United States has formally withdrawn from the TPP, there are efforts to move forward with the so-called ‘TPP 11’ (the twelve original signatories minus the US). Senior trade officials will be meeting on May 2-3 in Toronto to advance this agenda prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting on May 20-21 in Vietnam. Our action alert calling on the Trudeau government to immediately withdraw from the TPP can be found here.
The Trudeau government is trying to provisionally apply CETA by July 1. That involves passing C-30 implementing legislation before the House of Commons recesses for its summer break as early as June 9. Ultimately, all 38 national and regional parliaments will have to ratify CETA in order for it to be fully implemented. To call on the Trudeau government to withdraw C-30, please see our action alert here.
The NAFTA renegotiation process is expected to begin this August and the pressure will be on to have it concluded by April 2018. Our action alert that calls on the Trudeau government to hold public consultations and to remove the investor-state, energy proportionality, and water provisions can be read here.
Clark highlights, “We are fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and passionate trade campaigner.”
For more on our trade campaign, please click here.
