The Council of Canadians London chapter.
London city council passed a resolution concerning the Canada-European Union free trade agreement last night.
The resolution states:
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the Province of Ontario BE REQUESTED to provide the City of London with a clear and comprehensive briefing on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), as soon as possible. -
the Province of Ontario BE REQUESTED to engage in a full consultation process with the City of London and reserve for Council the right to debate, and ultimately vote on, the terms of the deal as it relates to the City of London, before any approval of the deal is issued by the Province.
Council of Canadians activists Jennifer Chesnut, Roberta Cory, Rory Cory, and Aldous Smith were at City Hall last night for the vote. The London chapter had pushed for this resolution and helped convince city councillors to support it with a 28-slide PowerPoint presentation on the financial costs of CETA to city council.
Chesnut tells us, “The information gathering for the slide show was a group effort by the chapter’s trade committee. We brought any documents that we could find that related to the fiscal story of CETA and ramifications for municipalities. We used stuff from Stuart Trew, Scott Sinclair, Jim Stanford, Steve Shrybman. We also analyzed the report that was given to our council in November 2013 following the October 2013 preliminary signing — we highlighted the key phrases to provide evidence that a municipal procurement trade regime is real and happening now.”
The London chapter now intends to discuss with city councillors the letter to be drafted by city council to Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne.
For more on the Council of Canadians campaign against CETA, please click here. We’ll be adding London’s motion to our map and encouraging Council chapters across the country to work with their councillors on a similar motion.
