The Peterborough chapter’s information table at the Farmers’ Market today. Photo by Adam Coones.
The Council of Canadians Peterborough chapter set up an information table at their local farmers’ market today to build awareness about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The Council of Canadians rejects the TPP because of:
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the deal’s investor-state dispute settlement provision -
the job losses expected to come with it -
the harm it would do to the auto parts sector -
the Bovine Growth Hormone-tainted milk it would allow into Canada -
the further exploitation of temporary foreign workers it would enable -
the extended patent protection it would give to transnational corporations for expensive life-saving pharmaceuticals -
the threat posed to public water services and water protection -
the lack of transparency in its negotiation and now in its ratification process.
The Peterborough chapter’s work to build awareness about this 12-country ‘free trade’ deal is necessary, timely and well-placed.
Necessary because an Angus Reid poll conducted in late-January found that many people are unsure what to think of the TPP. The CBC has 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.”
Timely because June 30 is now the deadline to submit comments to the House of Commons standing committee studying the TPP. You can email your comments to them at ciit-tpp-ptp@parl.gc.ca They are accepting written submissions of no more than 1,500 words in length. Media reports suggest that the House of Commons will vote on the ratification of the TPP in the fall of 2017, just before the November 2017 deadline set by the signatory countries.
And well-placed because farmers’ markets are an ideal place to share information about the TPP. And as noted here, “Buying local means buying food and goods that are grown, raised or produced as close to home as possible. …Transporting food long distances uses an incredible amount of fossil fuel that releases pollutants into the atmosphere contributing to global climate change and air pollution.”
For our critique of the TPP, please see our campaign web-page here.
