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St. John’s chapter warns of investor-state rules in CETA

Council of Canadians St. John’s chapter activist Ken Kavanagh says the so-called ‘investment protection’ provisions found in the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) are dangerous.


VOCM reports, “An Atlantic Representative with the Council of Canadians says CETA threatens local municipalities in the province. Ken Kavanagh says the investor-state rules within the agreement move things in the wrong direction. He says it’s still the major issue with CETA because it gives corporations the right to sue not only the federal government, but provincial and municipal governments as well. Corporations would be able to sue governments if local regulations interfered with a company’s business prospects, and many see this as a shift in power from the legal systems of government to corporations.”


The article adds, “Kavanagh says people need to realize what CETA means for them and act immediately to prevent it from being signed by Prime Minister Trudeau until all the issues are resolved. He says there are a lot of people who claim not to know what’s in these deals but it’s about time people started learning because there are more negative implications than positive.”


Bloomberg reports this hour, “The European Union’s trade deal with Canada should take another small step forward on Friday when Belgium’s regional parliaments meet to approve the deal. With the southern Belgium French-speaking region of Wallonia having stepped away from its objections on Thursday, the various levels of the nation’s regional governments will give their formal consent. That will allow the EU as a whole to give its endorsement at midnight and enable EU President Donald Tusk to set a new date for a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign the pact.”


Deutsche Welle reports this morning that CETA will be signed by European Council president Donald Tusk, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau at an extraordinary meeting in Brussels no later than this coming Monday.


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