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NEWS: UK group protests Canada-EU trade deal in London

A media release from the UK Tar Sands Network this morning says they are demanding a meeting with British trade minister Stephen Green because, “they are concerned that trade negotiations between the European Union and Canada, due to start in Brussels on Monday, will dramatically boost Europe’s involvement in the Canadian tar sands, the most destructive project on earth.” Jess Worth from the group highlights that Green is the former chair of HSBC (the world’s sixth largest bank) and that HSBC is the thirteenth largest investor in the tar sands. She says, “we are concerned that he will put the interests of oil companies and the tar sands industry ahead of environmental and social concerns in (the Canada-EU) negotiations…”

Their media release explains, “Unbeknownst to most citizens, the EU and Canada are in the midst of negotiating an ambitious free trade deal (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA) that could open up the European market to imports of carbon-intensive tar sands oil for the first time. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the talks is the plan to allow multinational companies like BP and Shell to sue national governments over social and environmental regulations. This is happening despite the increasingly urgent need for governments to crack down on the destructive and dangerous activities of such companies. British shareholders, NGOs and campaigners have expressed increasing concern over the involvement of UK banks and oil companies in the highly polluting extraction of dirty oil from the tar sands.”

At this hour (just past noon in London) the protest is inside the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (a ministerial department that has responsibility for trade). The group has called itself for this action the ‘Big Society Trade Negotiators’. Big Society is a reference to a main policy idea from the UK Conservative Party election manifesto, and in that party’s language it aims “to create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a big society that will take power away from politicians and give it to people.”

The media release also notes that, “There will be another protest in Brussels on Monday January 17 outside the (CETA) negotiations themselves, involving UK, European and Canadian groups, and Indigenous activists.” Council of Canadians activists will be a part of that protest.

For the legal opinion on how CETA would serve to expand tar sands exports to Europe, please go to http://canadians.org/trade/documents/CETA/legal-opinion-CETA-tarsands.pdf.

To see a 7-minute video of today’s protest, go to http://www.no-tar-sands.org/?p=286 or view below.