The Council of Canadians has helped support our ally Common Frontiers making a new Free Trade 101 whiteboard animation video.
The 4-minute video is available in both English and French.
It was designed to reach the majority of people in this country who have not heard of free trade agreements like the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The video – narrated from the perspective of business supporter of free trade agreements – highlights that trade and investment agreements increase corporate power, erode state sovereignty, weaken democratic authority and are central to the neoliberal framework of privatization and deregulation. It also notes the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision that affords foreign corporations the right to sue for compensate when public services are expanded or when privatization is reversed.
To watch the video in English, please click here, in French here.
After watching the video, we encourage you to take action by calling on the Trudeau government to hold public hearings on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in each province and territory as well as separate and meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities and First Nations. No agreement can be ratified without full consent. To send your message, please click here.
The Council of Canadians appreciates the work of Common Frontiers in producing this video and the other co-sponsors of the video including the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and Unifor.
For more on our campaign against CETA please click here, for more on our campaign against the TPP click here.
