Council of Canadians trade campaigner Stuart Trew writes that, “The Harper government has reintroduced implementation legislation for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement in Bill C-2. As the number suggests, it is the second bill the government will handle after the budget, with second reading debate on the free trade agreement starting as early as this Friday.”
In his action alert today, Stuart writes, “The Bloc Quebecois and NDP will almost certainly vote against any attempt to fast-track the Canada-Colombia FTA implementation legislation. The Liberals need to be pressured to use this opportunity to demand a human rights impact assessment as they did in June 2008.”
To respond to this ‘ACTION ALERT: Liberals must stop fast-track of Canada-Colombia free trade agreement (Bill C-2)’, please go to http://canadians.org/action/2010/CCFTA-0203.html.
The Canwest News Service reports today that, “The Council of Canadians (has) issued a statement, citing recent reports by the United Nations and Amnesty International about ‘the escalating violence against Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities, including murder and forcible displacement from communal lands’. The Council predicted Canadian companies investing in agriculture, mining and resource extraction in some areas of Colombia ‘will be doing business with murderers, drug traffickers and arms smugglers’.”
That article can be read at http://communities.canada.com/SHAREIT/blogs/politics/archive/2010/03/10/canada-colombia-free-trade-doing-business-with-murderers.aspx.
The media release we issued yesterday – ‘Ignatieff, Liberals must stand up for human rights in Colombia, block reintroduction of free trade agreement, says Council of Canadians’ – can be read at http://canadians.org/media/trade/2010/10-Mar-10.html.
