STRASBOURG, 6 pm (12 pm ET) – We have just concluded a very good two-hour meeting with 6 MEPs and 15 political staff for MEPs from different parliamentary parties on the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Council of Canadians trade campaigner Stuart Trew facilitated the meeting, Blair Redlin of CUPE spoke to the investor-state provision, Terry Boehm of the National Farmers Union addressed agriculture issues, Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Indigenous Environmental Network presented on the tar sands, and I highlighted CETA and its relationship to water privatization. A very good discussion, and a question and answer session followed.
An uninvited Canadian embassy official turned up at the meeting to challenge our comments related to the tar sands and Europe’s fuel quality directive. We easily countered her assertions and were strongly supported by an MEP who raised Canada’s role in killing the second binding phase of the Kyoto protocol at the United Nations climate negotiations this past December in Cancun.