The Council of Canadians Nelson chapter will host a public forum about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on June 1.
The featured speakers at the public forum will be Vancouver-based Council of Canadians organizer Harjap Grewal, former BC Southern Interior Member of Parliament Alex Atamanenko, and Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Castlegar local president Cindy McCallum Miller.
Chapter activist Sandra Nelken says, “Canadians need to know about the impact deals like the TPP can have on our right to run our own country. These deals can really hurt our public health, the environment, our internet freedom, food systems and much more. We can build opposition to the TPP by educating each other about the agreement.”
Raising public awareness about the TPP is vital. In February the CBC reported, “Support for Canada joining the TPP stood at 32 per cent in the poll, with 20 per cent of respondents saying they opposed joining the deal. But that still left 49 per cent of Canadians without an opinion.”
Building opposition is particularly important in British Columbia given the position that has been taken by the BC government.
Premier Christy Clark has been a vocal proponent of the TPP. In April, the Globe and Mail reported, “In a letter to International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, Ms. Clark’s government is calling on Ottawa to ratify the deal. Ms. Clark’s Liberal government also introduced a motion in the legislature endorsing the deal.” And back in February, Clark stated, “We’re bringing together a coalition of people who support it, because we want the federal government to know: We understand they need to have a conversation with Canadians as they promised in their platform, but we’d like them to do it quickly and we’d like to get this done.”
The TPP is expected to be voted on in the House of Commons in the fall of 2017.
For more on our campaign to stop the TPP, please click here.
