The Trudeau government has continued to fast-track the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) through Parliament. Just this morning, it was sent for second reading – just 17 days after it was first presented.
Prime Minister Trudeau is desperate for a political “win,” before the October elections.
But we all know whose deal this really is – U.S. President Donald Trump’s.
And right now, progressive Democrats in the U.S. are using their majority power in the House of Representatives to push for stronger environmental and labour provisions in NAFTA 2.0, as well as to reduce protections for pharmaceuticals that lock-in higher drug costs for people like you and me, and lock in billions in profit for Big Pharma. We would all reap the benefits of these changes.
But these much-needed improvements from the U.S. will be harder to achieve if Canada rushes to ratify this deal.
The Trans Mountain project could add 13 to 15 megatonnes of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, which would be like adding almost 3.8 million cars on the road. This will make it impossible for us to meet our climate targets, which are already far from the scale of emissions cuts that are needed.
