Canada’s High Commissioner to the UK Janice Charette meeting with Queen Elizabeth.
The Trudeau government wants the British government to ratify the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) before it leaves the EU, according to Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Janice Charette.
The Toronto Star reports, “The [Trudeau] government is pushing for its trade deal with Europe to be ratified by Britain before it leaves the European Union to secure the crucial agreement. Prime Minister Theresa May will start formal divorce talks with the European Union at the end of the month. Technical discussions to preserve CETA with the UK after Brexit have begun. Francois-Philippe Champagne, appointed Canadian trade minister this year, has met with UK Trade Secretary Liam Fox several times already, Charette said.”
The BBC has reported, “Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50 on March 29 – beginning formal negotiations on Brexit. Article 50 is a plan for any country that wishes to exit the EU. It was created as part of the Treaty of Lisbon – an agreement signed up to by all EU states which became law in 2009.”
Negotiations with the EU are expected to begin in April/May and the UK is expected to formally withdraw from the EU in March 2019.
The Council of Canadians stands with its UK-based allies Global Justice Now and War on Want in opposition to CETA.
In July 2016, Global Justice Now released an expert opinion which says that if the UK doesn’t formally leave the European Union before CETA is ratified, then Article 30.9 (2) of CETA would apply and the UK would be tied into the trade deal for a period of twenty years after announcing any intention to leave the deal.
Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden has also noted, “There’s nothing more helpful to Trump and the wave of European populism than passing CETA. [We need a] trade system based on the needs of society – building public services, creating decent jobs, laws to constrain the most powerful exploiting the least powerful. Without this, everything that Trump represents will grow.” And War on Want trade campaigner Mark Dearn says the deal would result in more inequality and, in turn, fuels the racist right.
A Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University study found that CETA would transfer 1.74 per cent of national income from labour to capital (meaning any economic gains will flow overwhelmingly to owners of capital rather than to workers), that it will result in a net loss of 23,000 jobs in Canada in the first seven years of being in effect, and that due to rising inequality and unemployment the average income in Canada is projected to fall by $2,650 by 2023. Overall the Tufts University CETA Without Blinders study shows that CETA signatory countries would lose 230,00 jobs.
#StopCETA
