The Council of Canadians and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour today released a joint open letter to Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall signed by 30 individuals and organizations in the province calling on the premier to keep his 2007 promise not to sign on to the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA).
The open letter comes in response to indications that the premiers of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia may very soon sign off on the so-called New West Partnership agreement, which is nothing more than a rebranding of TILMA, which Saskatchewan refused to sign in 2007 following broad public consultations in which the people of Saskatchewan overwhelmingly rejected the agreement.
While the name may be different, everything that has been said about the New West Partnership points to it being nothing more than TILMA 2.0: limits on the rights of governments and municipalities to pass regulations in the public interest, investor-state clauses that would allow corporations to sue governments directly for any measure that “impairs trade,” and all the other negative impacts of TILMA. Worse yet, few people in Saskatchewan are even aware that the government is considering signing such an wide-ranging agreement.
The open letter calls on Premier Wall to keep his promise and not sign a TILMA-like agreement, and to undergo a full legislative review and hold full and transparent public hearings on the New West Partnership. It also asks the premier if and when he plans to sign the new agreement.
To read the open letter to Premier Brad Wall, click here.
To read the media release, click here.
