Columnist John Ivison writes for tomorrow’s National Post that, “Just as the Flat Earth Society remains insistent in its belief that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax based on an Arthur C. Clarke novel, so Maude Barlow’s Council of Canadians is still convinced that free trade is a cataclysm that will drain our industry, resources and sovereignty southward.”
So, as you can see, Mr. Ivison is not a Council of Canadians supporter.
He also writes, “Unfortunately, people are scrabbling around for an alternative to the prevailing economic orthodoxy and the Council’s anti-trade crusade has the same knee-jerk appeal as lynching a banker – someone or something is to the blame for the state we’re in and it might be free trade.”
He continues, “Yesterday, it released a report on the supposed ‘internal free trade agenda’ of the Harper government…”
He quotes trade lawyer and Council of Canadians Board member Steven Shrybman then says, “Mr. Shrybman’s logic is as sound as that of those Flat Earthers who believe we live on a disc with the North Pole at the middle.”
You can read his column (diatribe) at http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/03/31/john-ivison-direct-from-the-12th-century-we-bring-you-maude-barlow.aspx
We will be responding to Mr. Ivison’s column with a letter to the editor shortly.
In the meantime, be sure to read our media release ‘Interprovincial investor rights are an impractical joke’ at http://canadians.org/media/DI/2009/31-Mar-09.html
To read Steven Shrybman’s report ‘State of Play: Canada’s Internal Free Trade Agenda’, please go to www.canadians.org
Director of Organizing Carleen Pickard led today’s media conferences that launched Steven’s report and has clearly done something right to provoke such a reaction in this column. Great work!