The Retirees Chapter of CAW Local 222, representing over 13,000 people and their families in the Oshawa, ON area, has just passed a resolution calling on the federal, provincial and territorial governments to “immediately cease negotiating with the EU while nation-wide public consultations can be held on how and whether or not to proceed with a potential trade agreement.” The resolution is close to the one on the Council of Canadians website, which can be printed off and circulated by clicking here. The CAW local sent a copy of the resolution to Prime Minister Harper, all opposition leaders, and local area MPs Colin Carrie (Oshawa), James Flaherty (Oshawa/Whitby) and Bev Oda (Durham).
If you’re part of a union local, or work closely with labour groups in your community, please consider asking them to pass this resolution at their next meeting. You might consider adding one more clause as follows:
WHEREAS an economic assessment of the proposed intellectual property chapter in CETA estimates it would increase the cost of public and private drug plans in Canada by over $2.8 billion, with almost half of that incurred by already struggling provincial health care systems;
Please let us know if your local decides to pass the same resolution, and please continue to circulate the petition in your community so your MP can read it out loud in the House of Commons. Let’s put opposition to CETA on the public record. Let’s make signing a new corporate rights deal with the EU very difficult for this or any future government to do.
