Hamilton’s independent magazine View reports, “Municipal and provincial buy local policies as well as public control over water and other services are threatened by a new trade agreement between Canada and Europe that’s close to being finalized by the Harper government. City council is being urged to oppose the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that would also affect purchasing decisions of school boards, hospitals, conservation authorities and other government agencies.”
“Maude Barlow, head of the Council of Canadians is speaking at a public meeting at the Convention Centre on September 27 (7 pm) to explain the CETA threat. Another COC spokesperson will address councillors in October when they will be debating a Brian McHattie motion urging the province to ‘negotiate a clear, permanent exemption for local governments from CETA’. …The city council discussion is scheduled for October 11. The COC’s September 27 public meeting will also be addressed by the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.”
The full article is at http://www.viewmag.com/13867-Trade+Deal+Threatens+City+Services.htm.
For our action alert calling for municipal resolutions against CETA, please go to http://canadians.org/action/2011/CETA-resolution.html.
More on municipal opposition to CETA and the role the Federation of Canadian Municipalities is playing at http://canadians.org/blog/?p=10388. So far, ten municipalities have passed resolutions concerning CETA, and there is word that Essex County/ Windsor passed a resolution last night. More on that soon.
Our campaign page on CETA is at http://canadians.org/ceta.
The poster for our September 27 event in Hamilton is at http://canadians.org/events/documents/CETA-tour-Hamilton.pdf.
